Copyright © 1998-2025 Dawn E. Monroe. All rights
reserved
|
ISBN: 0-9736246-0-4 |
Authors |
SEE ALSO - ACADEMICS - HISTORIANS |
|
Una Stella Abrahamson
r 16 |
née Golding. Born August 6, 1922, London,
England. Died February 28, 1999, Toronto, Ontario. Shortly after the end of
World War ll (1939-1945) Una married a Canadian service man, Roy Abrahamson
and in 1946 the couple settled in Canada where they raised their two
children. She studied painting for awhile but went on to work as an
economist and domestic historian for Chatelaine magazine in Toronto.
She would also work as publicist for the kitchens at General Foods and would
become a director of consumer affairs for the Dominion Store chain of
supermarkets. In 1966 she published God Bless Our Home: Domestic
Life in Nineteenth Century Canada. In 1974 she published The Canadian
Guide to Home Entertaining and followed this the next year with her
book, Crafts Canada, In 1975 she served as chair of the Ontario
Council of Health Task Force on dietetics and nutrition. She also
contributed numerous articles to various Canadian magazines and was a
popular public speaker. Sadly in the fall of 1978 she was hit by an
automobile and was in a coma for over a year. She eventually was able
to speak and write. She considered herself a feminist long before it was
popular. The University of Guelph Archives holds 2,700 cook books that were
her private collection as well as some clippings and radio and TV video
tapes. Source: University of Guelph Archives online (accessed
2023); Obituary, online (accessed 2023) |
Janice Acoose 3890
|
Born 1954, Broadview, Saskatchewan. Died December 3, 2020. As
a child, because of her First Nation background she was forced by the
government to attend Cowessess Indian Residential School. Working as a
journalist she became Saskatchewan's first Native Affairs columnist when she
worked at the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix newspaper. She would also
contribute to the Regina Leader Post, the Prince Albert Herald,
Aboriginal Voices, New Breed, and Windspeaker. Her
first book, based on her Masters Thesis, Iskwewak kah Yaw Ni
Wahkomakanak, was published in 1995 at the Toronto Women's Press. Janice
was also an advocate for Indigenous language and a professor of Indigenous
and English Literature at First Nations University of Canada in
Saskatchewan. In 2006 she was interviewed by the National Film Board
of Canada for the documentary Finding Dawn which is about murdered
and missing Aboriginal women in Canada. (2022) |
Freda Ahenakew
Indigenous Author & Cree Language
Expert. |
Born February 11, 1932, Ahtahkakoop, Saskatchewan. Died April 8, 2008,
Saskatchewan. As a youth Freda was forced to attend St Alban’s Residential
School in St Albert, Saskatchewan, away from her family. She married Harold
Greyeyes from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and the couple had 12 children.
She returned to school in 1968 along with nine of her children to achieve her
high school diploma. In 1979 she earned her Bachelor of Education from the
University of Saskatchewan while teaching the Cree language. From 1976
through 1981 she was a teacher at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College
and other Aboriginal schools in the province. In 1984 she graduated with a
Master’s of Art Degree in Cree linguistics from the University of Manitoba.
She became an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan in 1985
through 1989. She was Director of the Saskatchewan Indian Languages
Institute and then took a position as professor of Native Studies at the
University of Manitoba until her retirement in 1996. While teaching she
wrote numerous books for children, books about the Cree language, and its
importance to Cree Culture. In 1998 she was inducted as a Member of the
Order of Canada and in 2005 she was inducted into the Saskatchewan Order of
Merit.
(2020) |
Susan
Louise Moir Allison
National Historic Person
|
Born August
18, 1845, Ceylon. Died February 1, 1937, Vancouver, British Columbia. After
her father’s death his widow and three children relocated to England. In
1857 the mother married Thomas Glennie and by 1900 the family was living in
British Columbia. By 1864 the father abandoned the family in Hope, British
Columbia. Here Susan established the 1st school in the town. In 1868 she
married John Fall Allison, one of the founders of Princeton, British
Columbia. The couple had 14 children who they raised in the Similkamun
Valley. Susan and her family formed close relations with the Aboriginal
population of the area and she learned their stories and translated them to
English. She was the 1st European to report sighting the Naitaka
(Opopogo), a large serpent like legend of Lake Okanagan. In 1891 the British
Association for the Advancement of Science published Susan’s paper on the
peoples of Similkameen. In 1900 she published a long narrative poem, In-cow-mad-ket, a story of a local native Chief. She retired to Vancouver in
1928 publishing part of her memoirs in 1931 in the Province
newspaper. Her complete memoirs were published by the University of British
Columbia in 1976. This publication gives the only British Columbian woman’s
account of early settlement in the area. On September 4, 2010 she was
declared a National Historic Person.
(2020)
|
Mary Alloway |
née Wilson. Born December 3,1847, Montreal, Lower Canada (now
Quebec). Died November 1, 1919, Pasadena, California, U.S.A. Mary spent most
of her life in her home province of Quebec. It was here that she wrote
a local history book, Famous Firesides of French Canada which was published
in 1899. She also published an historical romance Crossed Swords in 1912.
She married Clement John Alloway (1847-1914) who would become known as one
of Canada's authorities on horses. The couple had four sons. Mary was also
an accomplished artist using water colours and also china painting. Mary
died while on holiday in California. Source The
Canadian Writing Resource Collaboratory Online (2020) |
Anne-Marie Alonzo |
SEE - Poets |
Anahareo |
SEE
- Gertrude Moltke Bernard
|
Anne-Marie André
Inuit author & activist |
Born 1926, Schefferville (Matimekosh), Quebec. Died
2004. In 1976 she published her 1st book which as autobiographical, Je suis
Une maudite sauvagesse/eukan nin matshimanitu innu-iskueu (I am a damaged
savage woman) The book deals with topics of loss of hunting territory,
Residential schools and police brutality. A second book followed in 1979
providing a view of a indigenous child on colonization of Turtle Island. In
1981 this second book was adapted for the stage. Her writings were a
subsequent inspiration to other Innu writers and a renewed interest in her
native language. (2020) |
Marie Louise Félicité Angers
Laure Conan |
Born January 9, 1845, La Malbaie, Lower Canada
(now Quebec). Died
June 6, 1924, Quebec City, Quebec. Félicité was educated by the Ursuline
nuns in Quebec where she became fluently bilingual in English and French and
also learned German. While she never married she had had a suitor,
Pierre-Alexis Tremblay, who would marry another woman. Félicité remained
heartbroken. Using the pen name of Laure Conan, she would author of nine novels of
French Canadian life. Her first work appeared as a short story Un amour vrai
which was published in the Revue de Montréal in 1878 and 1879. She
was also a contributor to Le Journal de Françoise, a bimonthly paper
edited by the acclaimed Robertine Barry (1863-1910). Félicité was a witness to her time.
She was the first French Canadian female novelist
with her book Angeline de Montbrun which was first published in serial
form and then as a book in 1884.
All her novels centered on the three driving forces of French Canadian life:
family, nation, and religion. It was unusual at this era for a women
to make a living by writing which Félicité did by contributing articles to
newspapers, journals, and by writing plays. (2024) |
Nelly Arcan |
SEE- Isabelle Fortier |
Alice Maud Ardagh |
Born July 15, 1861, Christchurch, Monmouthshire, Wales. Died January 13,
1936, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. In 1863Alice and her family immigrated
to Canada West (now Ontario). After the death of her father in 1868 the
family settled for a while in Whitby, Ontario and then to Yorkville,
Ontario. In 1888 Alice published her 1st novel, Tangled Ends. By 1900 she
was living in Barrie, Ontario with relatives. Here she contributed verses to
periodicals like the Canadian Monthly and The Week using the
nom de plume 'Esperance' After the death of her sister in 1917she moved to
join a cousin in southern California. Her second novel was published in
1933. Her forth and last novel was published posthumously in 1936.
(2020) |
Edith Jessie Archibald |
SEE - Social Activists |
Agatha Armour |
SEE - Rebecca Agatha Armour Thompson |
Jeanette Armstrong
Indigenous
Author |
Born 1948, Penticton Indian Reserve,
British Columbia. She originally studied fine arts at Okanogan College and
the University of Victoria. Her current career is being director of the En'owkin Cultural Centre, a cultural and educational organization operated
by the Okanogan Nation. Her writings serve the purpose to educate young
people about aboriginal history and culture. Her published works have earned
the Mungo Martin Award in 1974 and the Helen Pitt Memorial Award in 1978. |
Margaret
Eleanor
Atwood
|
Born November 18, 1939, Ottawa, Ontario.
'Peggy' is a poet, novelist, editor and critic is one of Canada's
major contemporary authors. She has written novels, television scripts,
short stories, children's books many of which have won awards locally,
nationally and internationally. Her works have won the Governor General's
Award for Literature, the Giller Prize, the Los Angeles Times Prize just to
name a few! She has also edited such monumental tomes as the Oxford Book
of Canadian Poetry. She has an active interest in Amnesty International.
Recognition of her career have been way to numerous to list in one
paragraph. The variety of awards runs from MS Magazine Woman of the Year
1986 to being a Companion in the Order of Canada. Check out the online
edition for the Canadian Encyclopedia for complete listings of her works and
her awards. |
Margaret Avison r34 |
Born April 23, 1918, Galt, Ontario. Died July
31, 2007, Toronto, Ontario. When Margaret was two the family relocated to
Regina, Saskatchewan and then to Calgary, Alberta before finally settling in
1930 in Toronto. She attended Alma College in St. Thomas, Ontario, in
the mid 1930's. She went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts in 1940 from the
University of Toronto (U of T). During her university studies she had poems published
in the Canadian Poetry Magazine and the college magazine Acta
Victoriana. She worked as a file clerk, a proof reader, and an editor as
well as at the Library at U of T. She would also work as a social worker at
the Presbyterian Church Mission in Toronto. These jobs allowed her to live
and write. In 1951 a junior high textbook, History of Ontario, was
published. In 1956 she earned a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant and
attended classes at the University of Chicago and the University of Indiana
in the United States. Her first book of poetry Winter son was
published in 1960 and earned her a Governor Generals Award in Literature.
Moved by the Hungarian Uprising of the mid 1950's she translated Hungarian
poems. In 1965 she completed her Master's of Arts at the UofT. She began
work on studies towards a Doctorate but did not complete these studies. In
1966 another book of poetry, Dumbfounding was published describing her
conversion from agnosticism to Christianity. She was a teacher at the U of T
and was writer-in-residence at the University of Western Ontario, London,
Ontario in 1973. She went on to work in the Archives of the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (C B C) and in 1978 she joined the Mustard Seed
Mission in Toronto serving as secretary. In 1984 she became an Officer in
the Order of Canada and retired two years later. In 1990 she produced her
forth volume of poems winning her second Governor General's Award. In 2003
her publication, Concrete and Wild Carrot won the Griffin Poetry Prize. The
University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections holds the Margaret
Avison Fonds of textual records, photographs, audio-cassettes, compact
discs, and CD-ROM's. (2023) |
Agnes Marion Ayer |
SEE - Artists - Painters |
Constance Barbara
Backhouse |
Born February 19, 1952, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
She studied for her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Manitoba and took Law at
Osgoode Hall Law School and took her masters in Law at Harvard Law School in
the U.S.A. In 1984 she became professor at the University of
Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Her legal specialty was women and the
law. She is interested in women and the law in history and is an considered
an expert in the field of gender issues and sexual harassment. Some of the
books she has written are considered basic reading for women's study
programs across the country. Some of the titles she has written are: The
Secret oppression: Sexual harassment of working women (1979);
Sexual Harassment on the Job (1981) Petticoats and Prejudice:
Women and the Law in Nineteenth Century Canada (1991) and Colour
Coded: a Legal History of Racism in Canada 1900-1950. |
Margaret Ruth Bagnall |
SEE - Artists - Painters |
Marilyn J. Baillie |
née Michener.
Marilyn was an author, magazine editor, interior designer, and childhood
educator. She was the author of the children's series of books Amazing
Things Animals Do aw well as other series for children. She was the editor
of Chickadee magazine for children. In 1965 she married A. Charles Baillie
and the couple had four children. She was instrumental in the founding of
the Canadian Children's Book Centre. In 2006 an annual Canadian literary
award of $25,000.00 for the best illustrated picture book for children was
established. In 2012 she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee
Medal for her work in children's literature. February 1, 2019 she was
invested into the Order of Canada. |
Irene Baird - Grierson |
née Todd.
Born April 9, 1900, Carlisle, England. Died April 19, 1981, Victoria, British
Columbia. In 1991 Irene immigrated to Canada’s west coast with her family and
settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. A few years later she married an engineer, Robert
Baird, and the couple had two children. Like many families the depression was
difficult with Robert losing his job. Irene taught at Vancouver St. George’s
private school as one of the few female teachers. In 1937 she produced her
first
novel, John, followed in 1939 by her second novel Waste
Heritage. This novel fell out of favour for a while but was rediscovered
and republished in 1973 and again in 2007. Other novels were to follow. The
family relocated to Victoria, British Columbia, and by the early 1940’s Irene
was the family breadwinner. She became a freelance journalist and wrote a
column for the Vancouver Sun. In 1942 with Robert no longer in the
picture, Irene was offered a job at the National Film Board and Irene and the
children relocated to Ottawa, Ontario. In 1944 she married John Grierson who
was Director at the National Film Board. Irene’s career covered several
federal government departments including the Department of Mines and
Resources, the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources and the
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Her work meant lots
of travel throughout North America, Latin America and the United Kingdom.
She also had numerous trips to the Canadian Arctic. When she retired in
1967
she had been the first woman to head an Information Division in the
federal government. While working for the government she authored numerous
travelogues for the publication North/Nord as well as having her
short stories and poems appear in Saturday Night magazine, The
Beaver (Canada’s History Magazine), the Canadian Geographical Journal,
and the UNESCO Currier. In 1973 Irene moved back to Victoria, British
Columbia. |
Helga Steinvor Baldvinsdotir
'Undine' |
Born June 1, 1855, Litla Aszeirsa, Iceland. Died October 23, 1941. Helga came to Canada with her parents in 1873.
The first settled in Ontario where she married Jakob
Jonatonsson Lindal. The couple had two children. She had written poetry in
Iceland but it was not until she came to Canada would she have any of her
work published. He writings reflected her life story, writing of leaving her
homeland and lamenting that in Canada women’s rights often meant women
remained in a bad marriage. She became divorced in 1892. She moved to
Manitoba and later to British Columbia with her second husband Skuli Arni
Stefansson Freeman with whom she had another child. Skuli died in 1904. She
published using the pen name 'Undine'. Her works were published in Freyja,
an early suffrage journal. While she did put her poems together in a
manuscript they were not published until 1952, 11 years after her death.
Sources:
Herstory: A Canadian Women’s Calendar 2006. Saskatoon: Coteau Books,
2005: Writings by Western Icelandic Women by Kristen Wolf. Winnipeg:
University of Manitoba Press, 1997. |
Winnifred
Estella
Bambrick
4217 |
Born February 21, 1892, Ottawa, Ontario. Died April 11, 1969,
Montreal, Quebec. Winifred was musically gifted as a child. She began harp
lessons at the Rideau Street Convent, Ottawa. In 1910 and 1911 she was
performing with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra. She relocated to New Yo City,
U.S.A. to study further on the harp. She made her debut at New York City's
Aeolian Hall on October 22, 1913. In 1914 she was making recordings
for Edison Records' Diamond Disc. From 1920 for the next decade she played
in the John Philip Sousa Band. The following decade she was making solo
appearances with a circus orchestra traveling Europe. In 1939 she narrowly
escaped internment in Leipzig, Austria, at the beginning of World War ll
(1939-1945). In 1946 she published a novel Continental Review which
highlighted events her experience in pre war Europe. She did a musical tour
across Canada. Her tour ended just in time for her to receive the Governor
General's Award for English Language Fiction in 1947. She had pared down he
novel and turned the left over writings into short stories. It was in 1947
that her second novel, The Lasting Spring, was written but it was
never published. She continued to perform on the harp until her emphysema
prevented her from working. (2023) |
Elizabeth Jo-Anne 'Jo' Bannatyne - Cugnet |
Born July 19,
1951, Estevan, Saskatchewan. She studied nursing at the University of
Saskatchewan earning her Bachelor of Science. in 1974. She began her nursing career in
Weyburn, Saskatchewan as a public health nurse. She married Kenney Frank
Bannatyne-Cugnet in August 1975 and the couple have 4 sons. She began
writing to teach her sons about life on a prairie farm. In 1992 she produced
Prairie Alphabet which joined other picture books, A prairie Year,
Heartland: a Prairie Sampler. She has also produced two novels
for young readers and a picture book on new Canadians called The Day I
became a Canadian: a Citizenship Scrapbook. Jo retired from Nursing in 1994
and keeps busy writing and volunteering in her community. |
Joyce Carmen
Barkhouse |
née Killam. Born May 3, 1913, Woodville, Nova Scotia. Died February 2, 2012,
Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. While as a youth Joyce dreamed of being a missionary.
But like so many young women of her generation,
she took the reality check of becoming a teacher. She attended the Truro
Normal Collage (teacher’s college) in 1932. She encouraged all her students, even her niece, Margaret Atwood
(1939- ). She often wrote short stories, poems, and
plays for her students to provide Canadian content and context that was
missing from regular school provided textbooks. In 1942 she married Milton
Joseph Barkhouse ( - 1968) and took time from her teaching and writing to
raise her two children. In 1974 she published her 1st book: George Dawson:
the Little Giant. In 1980 she collaborated with Margaret Atwood for the book:
Anna’s Pet. Her work, The Pit Pony won the Ann Connor Brimer Award in
Children’s Literature. This story went on to win a Gemini Award when
produced as a C BC TV film and later was redone as a min series for TV. She
was a member of the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia, The writer’s Union
of Canada, and the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and
performers. She was inaugurated into the Order of Nova Scotia in 2007 and
the Order of Canada in 2009. (2021) |
E. Barrington |
SEE
- Lily Adams Beck |
Nancy Bauer |
née Luke.
Born July 7, 1934, Chelmsford,
Massachusetts, U.S.A. Nancy earned her Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College,
South Hadley, Massachusetts, U.S.A. She married William 'Bill' Bauer
(d2010), a Canadian, and moved to New Brunswick in 1945. The couple raised a
family of two sons and one daughter. She was the publisher of 25 New
Brunswick Chap Books. She was the founder of the Maritime Writers Workshop. She has
been writer-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick, The Cape Code
Writers Conference, and Bemidji State University in Michigan, U.S.A. She
writes articles about craftspeople, visual artists, and writers for various
Canadian maritime magazines. She has written several novels and has won the
Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Literary Arts in 1999.
(2020) |
Diana Bayley
4177 |
née Collier. Born 1789?, England. Died
March 21, 1868, Bridport, Dorset, England. In 1805 Diana married George
Naylor. The couple had one son and one daughter. When she remarried to
Henry Addington Bayley (1789?-1882) the children too their stepfather's
name. In 1825 she published Tales of the Heath for young readers when
the family lived in Barbados in the West Indies. In 1827 she published a
travel account called Scenes at Home and Abroad. Accounts
record that a third child joined the family. By 1832 the family was living
in Lower Canada (now Quebec). She continued writing publishing she poems,
stories and life sketches in the Montreal Museum and The Literary
Garland. She is considered the first
Canadian resident to publish children's literature. In the
1840's the family was in Kingston, Upper Canada (now Ontario). By 1851 the
family was in England. Source: E C W W online
(accessed 2022) |
Glecia Nehiyaw
Bear
Indigenous author |
Born April 29, 1912, Green Lake, Saskatchewan. Died September
1998, Flying Dust First Nation, Saskatchewan. Nehiyaw wrote a story of
herself and her sister being lost in the forest when they were pre teens
called Wanisinwak iskwesisak; otbcimowiniwbwa published in 1991. She
followed this with the publication in 1992 of Kthkominawak otbcimowiniwbwa/Our
Grandmothers' Lives, as Told in Their Own Words, which was written by
several elders. She was a Cree elder and traditional story teller. She
was also the 1st woman to be Chief on the Flying Dust First Nation.
(2020) |
Jeann Beatie 3896 |
Born May 21, 1922, St. Catharines, Ontario. Died September
17, 2005, St. Catherines, Ontario. After High school Jeann worked in a
clerical position at the St. Catherines Standard newspaper. After four years
in 1944 she left her job to study journalism at Columbia University, New
York City, U.S.A. She would become a freelance journalist living in
Niagara-on-the-Lake writing for various Canadian newspapers and magazines
such as Maclean's. She was also a television producer for the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (C B C) In 1950 Jeann published her fist novel
Behold the Hour which was set within the C B C. This first novel won the
Ryerson Award for fiction. She was an advocate for social justice seeking
fairer treatment of you in juvenile detention. In 1971 she published the
book And the Tiger Leaps. After retiring from journalism she returned
to her home town and gave writing workshops at the St. Catharines Public
Library. Source: Lives Lived. Globe and Mail
March 8, 2006 (2022) |
Jessie
Louise Beattie
Rainbow Bright |
Born October 2, 1896, Blair,
Ontario. Died October 5, 1985, Hamilton, Ontario. Jessie
published her 1st poem when she was just 15 years old. She continued her
writing under the name, Rainbow Bright. After high school she worked in
libraries in Kitchener, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario and Buffalo, New York,
U.S.A. By 1928 she had returned home to care for her aging parents. She also
tutored neighboring children and obtained a special license to teach from
the Province of Ontario. In 1929, and 1931 Ryerson Press published books of
her poems and her 1st novel, Hill Top appeared in 1935. These early works
would be followed by some 20 books, three plays and an operetta. In an
attempt to raise funds for library books, Jessie wrote and produced a play
that soon found her traveling throughout Ontario to help produce school
plays in various towns as a representative of the Ontario Welfare Council.
From 1937-1939 she was a “House Mother” at Coronation Cottage at the Ontario
Training School for Girls in Galt. World War ll found her working at the
Vancouver Public Library in British Columbia. She married David Griffin and
the couple settled in Hamilton, Ontario where she continued writing even
though her sight was greatly weakened. In 1995 she was inducted into the
City of Cambridge (Ontario) Hall of Fame.
Source: Jessie
Louise Beattie, City of Cambridge Hall of Fame. Online (accessed
January 2013) |
Elizabeth Speed Beaven |
née Frowd. Born Summerside, England.
Died September 14, 1871. The wife of the Rev. James Beaven, a practicing
minister and professor of divinity in King's College in Toronto. Her husband
was a writer and no doubt the absence of materials for young ladies prompter
her to write her own book called, Devotions for School Girls [Toronto : n. d.] In the 1840's her husband would write of visits to Indian Missions in
the Canadas. Perhaps she had traveled with him on these ventures. |
Emily Elizabeth Beaven
Emily B
Mrs. B |
née Shaw. Born 1818, Belfast, Ireland Died August 6, 1897. Emily and her
family would sail with their sea faring father to New Brunswick in 1836.
June, two years later, she married Frederick William Cadwallader Beavan, a
surgeon in the militia. Three of their family of seven children would be
born in Canada. She enjoyed writing and her poetry and stories appeared in
the Armaranth, the 1st magazine of New Brunswick. Her works
appeared with the signature style of the day as wither Mrs. B or as Emily
B. In 1843 the family sailed to settle in England. However the life in
the Canadian province stayed with Emily and in 1845 she published
Sketches and Tales Illustrative of the Life in the Backwoods’ of New
Brunswick, North America. She intended the work to be a handbook of
prospective settlers. She even detailed the effect of weather on a woman’s
skin. Today the work is studied by students as a valuable historic profile
of her times in the colony. In 1852 the Beavan family sailed for Melbourne
to finally settle in Australia.
Sources:
D C B V. VII pg 792 ; A celebration of women
writers (accessed
April 2008) |
Andrea Beck |
Born
October 25, 1956, Montreal, Quebec. As a child living in small town Quebec
Andrea enjoyed the freedom of a vivid imagination and the outdoors. Her mother
took the family to live in Montreal when Andrea was 11 and she was not
impressed with the city. She attended Dawson College taking art and then
went to Toronto to attend the Ontario College of Art. Later she would attend
York University in Toronto for her Bachelor degree and the University of Toronto for
her Masters degree in social Work. Although she works as a registered
Clinical Consultant her imagination and love of drawing could not be
shelved. She actually founded a toy business making stuffed animals like
moose and beavers. It would be here that the embryo of the character for
children’s stories Elliot Moose would become part of Andrea’s life. She
began writing stories and when Elliot was sent to the Kids Can Press he was
an instant success with the publisher and with readers. Elliot even has his
own TV show! IN 2003 she was forced to rest and recuperate from two minor
automobile accidents. By 2007 she was back to writing and drawing and Pierre
le Poof, a poodle dog with an attitude came alive and also very popular with
the young readers. Andrea has enjoyed traveling to such places as the
rainforest in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe England and Russia making
her travels a fertile ground to be background for stores. Andrea has two
sons and lives in Unionville, Ontario, just east of Toronto.
Sources:: Andrea Beck by Dave Jenkinson, Canadian Magazine online
(accessed
January 2007).
|
Lily Adams Beck
E. Barrington; Eliza
Louisa Beck; and L (Louis) Moresby. |
née Moresby. Born 1862(?) Died January 3,
1931. She traveled to Asia and the Orient but did not begin to write until
1919 and was 1st published in 1922. She wrote under several pen names and
became well known under all the names she used: E. Barrington; Eliza Louisa
Beck; and L (Louis) Moresby. During her career she would write almost thirty
books published in Toronto, Boston, New York and London. Many of her books
were set in the Orient. |
Julia
Catherine Beckwith-Hart
|
née Beckwith.
Born March 10, 1796, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Died November 28, 1867, New
Brunswick. Julia wrote the first work of
fiction by an Indigenous Canadian to be published in Canada.
Her novel was called, St. Ursula’s Convent or the Nun of Canada,
Containing Scenes From Real Life, published in 1824. It took her ten
years to find a publisher and only 165 copies were printed. Almost all
original copies have been lost. She wrote this book when she was only 17
years old. In 1820, shortly after her father’s death, she relocated to
Kingson, Upper Canada (now Ontario) to live with family. Here she met and
married George Henry Hart and established a boarding dchool for girls. She
would continue publishing with two additional novels while she raised a
family of six children. It was not until the turn of the century in 1900
that she recognized for her works.
|
Margaret Belcher |
Born December 19, 1920, Dilke, Saskatchewan. Died June 29,
2003, Regina, Saskatchewan. Margaret attended Luther College, Regina and
went on to studies at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of
Toronto. After graduation from university she taught high school in
Rosetown, Saskatchewan. She moved to become a professor of French at Regina
College (now University of Saskatchewan) and later served a Dean of women.
An avid ornithologist, she published the first edition of The Birds of
Regina. In 1987 she published, Bird Imagery in the Lyric Poetry of
Tristan L'Hermite. She was an active member of the Saskatchewan Natural
History Society where she served as recording secretary, president, and for
over 20 years editor of the Society's quarterly publication. In 1989 she was
named a Fellow of the Saskatchewan Natural History Society. In 1996 she
published The Isabel Priestly Legacy, the biography of a Canadian
biologist. In 1997 she was invested in the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. In
2003 Margaret received the Queen Elizabeth ll Golden Jubilee Medal. The
Margaret Belcher Reading Room is located at Luther College, University of
Regina. Source: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
online (accessed 2022); University of Regina (accessed 2022) |
|
|
Bellan Riva Bellan |
SEE - Businesswomen |
Margaret Bemister |
Born August 31, 1877, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Died March 3, 1894,
Vancouver, British Columbia. Margaret earned her teaching certificate from
the Winnipeg Norma School (teachers' college). She contributed to the
Winnipeg Free Press newspaper and collected stories from local Aboriginals.
She was a member of the Winnipeg Branch of the Canadaian Women's Press Club
(C W P C) where she helped create Christmas Knapsack, an anthology published
to faise funds for First world war (1914-1918) soldiers. She also wrote
short stories and novels. When she was 82 she retired to live in Vancouver,
British Columbia. In al she published seven books, including: Stories
From Prairie and Mountain in 1909, Manitoba Primer in 1910
and in 1965 The Arrow Sash. |
Ethel
Mary
Bennett
3704 |
née Granger.
Born 1891 Shorten, Dorsetshire,
England. Died April 19, 1988. Ethel and her family immigrated to Canada when she
was an infant. Settling in Collinwood,
Ontario, young Ethel was writing for the Collingwood Bulletin while still in
school. She would attend the University of Toronto.
Graduating in 1915 she taught at the Ontario
Ladies College in Whitby, Ontario before she married in 1919 and moved to
teach in Pennsylvania.
She earned her PhD at the University of Wisconsin and Lectured in French in
Victoria during the 1940’s. In the late 1950’s
she published three historical novels featuring women in New France.
She won the Ryerson Fiction Award in 1960 for her work Short of Glory.
She also penned stories for Children for Discovery Magazine. |
Jehane Benoit
Madame Benoit
|
née
Patenaude. Born March 21,1904, Montreal, Quebec. Died
November 24, 1987, Sutton, Quebec. Jehane studied the culinary arts at the
Sorbonne and Le Cordon Blue in Paris France. She returned home to
Quebec and started her own cooking school, Fumet de L Vieille France
in Montreal. Jehane is best remembered as Madame Benoit. This food consultant turned to TV as a medium
to explain Canadian cuisine to her home and native land.
She also published some 30 books to generate interest in her
field. She studied at the Cordon Bleu and held a degree as a food
chemist from the Sorbonne in France. She opened her own cooking school
in Montreal, Fumet de la Vieille France. She
also opened one of the 1st Canadian vegetarian restaurants, the Salad Bar in
1935. She became a proponent of microware cooking and was hired as
salesperson for Panasonic Microwaves. In 1973 she
became an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2012 the biography,
A la découverte de Jehane Benoit, le roman de la grande dame de la
cuisine canadienne was published by Marguerite Paulin and Marie
Desjardins. (2024) |
Gertrude Bernard
'Anahareo'
|
Born June 18, 1906, Mattawa, Ontario. Died June 17, 1986, Kamloops, British
Columbia. As a youth she was somewhat of a tom-boy and her friends named her
‘Pony’. At 19 the young Iroquois girl met the much older fur trapper known
as Grey Owl (1888-1938) who claimed to be a half-blood Apache. They were
married in a traditional ceremony even though he was already married to his
1st wife. He called Gertrude ‘Anahareo'. She would convince him
to give up trapping and publish his writings for which he became famous. The
couple had one daughter Shirley Dawn born in 1932. They were separated two
years before his death when it was revealed that he was not a Native
American but a British citizen by the name of Archie Belaney. In 1940,
Anahareo wrote a book of her life with Grey Owl, Devil in Deerskin.
After the death of Grey Owl (1888-1938) she married Count Eric Moltke Huitfeld and the
couple had two daughters. She always remained committed to conservation and
animal rights. In 1979 she was inducted into the Order of Nature of the
International League of Animal rights located in Paris, France. In 1983 she
was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada. She was buried beside Grey
Owl and their daughter Dawn at Ajawaan Lake, Saskatchewan. |
Clare Bernhardt |
Born June 18,
1911, Preston, Ontario. Died May 1, 1993, Kitchener, Ontario. Clare became
wheelchair bound after a had polio when she was only 11. She was unable to
attend high school because of lack of accessibility but she educated herself
by reading. At 17 she had an article published in the magazine, Girlhood
Days. She would go on to write book reviews for the local newspaper the
Prestonian. She wrote poems that were published in various magazines
including the Ladies Home Journal and the Toronto Star Weekly.
During World War ll she wrote a column for the Canadian Red Cross and was a
correspondent for the Kitchener –Waterloo Record. Along with her short
stories that were published she wrote two novels and a play. Miss Bernhardt
wrote the lyrics for the Canadian Centennial year hymn that was provided to
churches across the country in 1967. For 30 years she would write a column
for her local paper about the world from her point of view. In 1991 she was
inducted into the Order of Ontario.
Source: Hall
of Fame, City of Cambridge, Ontario Online (accessed March 2013) |
Marie-Angèle 'Jovette' Alice Bernier |
See - Journalists |
Constance Bersford-Howe |
Born November 10,1922, Montreal, Quebec. Died January 20, 2016,
Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, United Kingdom. A novelist she produced ten
lively novels about women at various stages of life who struggled to live
freely trying to discover who they really were once they had thrown off
restraints of husbands, fathers and society itself. . She had married
Christopher Pressnell. The Book of
Eve published in 1973 in several countries was adapted to a stage plan and was produced at the Stratford
Festival in 1976-77. The main character in the book Eva is one of
the best lover characters in Canadian literature. In 2002 a film version of
the book altered the main flavor of the book and made Eva of Romanian
descent rather then a Czech immigrant. Two addition works, A Population
of One and The Marriage Bed were made into films by the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (C B C). |
Laura Beatrice Berton |
née Thompson. Born March 13, 1878, Boston,
Massauchetts, U.S.A. Died November 26, 1967, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Laura was a school teacher in Toronto prior to taking a teaching position in
Dawson City , Yukon in 1921. She married Francis 'Frank' George Berton
(1871-1945) and the couple had two children. In 1932 the family settled in
British Columbia. In 1954 she published her autobiography, I Married the
Klondike. Her son Pierre Francis deMarigny Berton (1920-2004)
would become a well known author and historian. (2022) |
Frances Marion Beynon
|
Born 1884,. Streetsville, Ontario, Died
October 5, 1951,
Winnipeg, Manitoba. Frances Marion moved with her family to Manitoba in 1889, settling in the Hartney.
district on a family farm. Like her siblings, Beynon earned a teaching
certificate. She taught near Carman before moving to Winnipeg in 1908 to
work in the T. Eaton Company’s advertising department. She was an active
member of the Quill Club. In 1912 she became the
1st full-time women’s
editor of the
Grain
Growers’ Guide,
holding the post until 1917. She and her sister
Lillian fought for a variety of women’s issues, including suffrage, dower
legislation, and homesteading rights for women, but she lost much public
credibility when she began to criticize the war. She left Manitoba in 1917
for the United States, where she wrote a semi-autobiographical novel,
Aleta Day,
and continued her journalistic work. |
Janice Elizabeth Bick
r 23
Author & Librarian |
née Ditmars. Born July 11, 1946, Digby, Nova Scotia. Died
July 21, 2022, Lindsay, Ontario. Janice studied Music at the University of
New Brunswick prior to earning her Master's in Library Science from the
University of British Columbia. She worked as a public librarian and
Children's librarian in Thunder Bay, Ontario. In the mid 1980's she married
John Bick. In 200 she retired from her library job and she and John were
soon running the Spruce Lane Bed and Breakfast on John's ancestral farm near
Bobcageon, Ontario. In 2006 she published Belinda Lee, a book for
children. Janice enjoyed singing and was a member of several choirs and was
involved with the Bobcageon Music Council. Along with singing in the Trinity
United Church Choir she served as secretary on the church council.
Source: Obituary online (accessed 2023) |
Sandra Louise Birdsell |
née Bartlette. Born April 22, 1942, Hamiota, Manitoba.
Sandra left home at 15. She studied at the University of Winnipeg and the
University of Manitoba. In 1966 she relocated to Regina Saskatchewan. An award winning novelist
and short story writer. Her 1st book, The Night Travelers was
published when she was 40. she has won the 1984 Gerald Lampert Award for
Night Travelers. In 1990 the Missing Child won the Books in Canada First
Novel Award. In 1993 she won the Marian Engel e Award. She has also been nominated more than once for the Governor
General's Award. In 2001 The Russlander took Saskatchewan Book of the
year Award for Best Saskatchewan Fiction. She married
filmmaker Jan Zarzycki and the couple have three children. In 2010 she
became a member of the Order of Canada and in 2012 she was invested with
the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. |
Marie-Claire Blais |
Born October 5, 1939, Quebec City, Quebec. Died November 30, 2021, Key West,
Florida, U.S.A. Marie-Claire attended Laval University
were friends encouraged her to become a writer. At 20 in 1959 she published
her 1st novel, Labelle Bete, in English translation, the
Mad Shadow. Since then there have been some 20 novels, several plays, as
well as published collections of poetry. In 1963 she moved to Cambridge,
Massachusetts, U.S.A. where she met her life partner, Artist Mary Meigs
(died 2002). The
couple lived in France for awhile before settling in Montreal. Her books
have been translated into English, Italian and even Chinese. Her works have
garnered her a multitude of awards from both Canada and abroad. In 1965
there was the Prix France, Canada followed in 1968 with the 1st
of several Governor’s General Awards (1979, 1996, 2001, 2005, and 2008).
There is also the W. O. Mitchell Award in 2000, the Prix Prince Pierre de
Monaco and in 2006 Matt Cohen Prize. In 1972 she was inducted in to the
Order of Canada and she also has been inducted into the Ordre National du
Quebec. From France she is a Chevalier in the Ordre of Lettres. In 1995/96
she was the International Woman of the Year awarded by the International
Biographical Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Along
with her novels she is known for her plays and poetry.
Source: Canadian Encyclopedia Online (accessed February 2014)
(2021) |
Victoria
Grace Blackburn
Fanfan |
Born April 17, 1865, Quebec City,
Quebec. Died March 4, 1928, London, Ontario. Victoria's father, Josiah Blackburn(1823-1890), was editor and proprietor of the
London
Free Press in London, Ontario. She attended Hellmuth Ladies College,
London, Ontario and then taught in the U.S.A. during the 1890's. She began
her career writing for the London Free Press in 1900 and become the
Literary and drama critic for the newspaper. From 1906 through 1910 she
immersed herself in cultural affairs in Europe with her sisters. Victoria
was active in London's theatre and various clubs. In 1910 she was a founding
member of the local Women's Canadian Club and served as President in
1918-1919. She also served as president of the London Women's Press Club.
from 1921-1923. In 1918 she became an assistant managing editor in
London for ten years. She continued to contribute essays, travelogs and
poems, as well as editorials. Her works were written under the pen name of 'Fanfan.'
She was a prolific poet and is also known to have produced two plays. Her only novel
The Man Child, which was set in the trenches of World War l, would be published in 1930 after her death.
There is an historical Plawue outside the home on Talbot St., where she
lived with her sisters for 16 years. (2022) |
Muriel Wylie 'Capi' Blanchet
4698 |
née Liffton. Born May 2, 1891, Montreal Quebec.
Died September 9, 1961, North Saanich, British Columbia. Capi was raised in
a wealthy family and loving sports she was considered a 'Tomboy'. In May of
the early 1910's she married Geoffrey Orme Blanchet. After her husband's
death in 1926 she took a cruise along the coast of British Columbia along
with her five children. She wrote an account of her family travels was
published in 1961 under the title, The Curve of Time, which was
published posthumously. When she died she had been working on a second book
which was published in 1983 as, A Wale Named Henry.
(2024) |
Jean Blewett
Katherine Kent |
née McKishnie
Born November 4, 1862, Scotia, Lake Erie, Canada West. (now Ontario).
Some sources say 1872) Died August 19, 1934, Chatham, Ontario. After
high school Jean married Bassett Blewett in 1879. That same year
she published her 1st novel Out of the Depths. Her poem,
Spring, won her $600.00 from the Times Herald, Chicago,
Illinois, U.S.A. She contributed articles
to the Toronto Globe newspaper before joining the staff at that newspaper
where she became editor of the homemaker's department in 1898.
She went on to publish several volumes of poetry in 1897, 1906 and 1922.
She retired from journalism and writing in 1925. She wrote a
booklet, Heart Stories to benefit World War l charities. She was a
welcome lecturer on topics such as temperance and suffrage. She
often used the name Katherine Kent for some of her works. She
retired from the Globe in 1925 due to ill health and lived with her
daughter in Lethbridge, Alberta for a couple of years before
relocating back to Toronto in 1927. |
Patricia Jenkins Blondal |
Born 1926,
Souris, Manitoba. Died 1959. She moved to Winnipeg with her family in the
1930s and attended the
University of Manitoba from 1944
to 1947. Patricia worked as a broadcaster for the CBC and later moved to
Montreal and began writing professionally in 1955. Her book
From Heaven with a Shout
was published in 1963 and serialized in
Chatelaine magazine. Her most critically acclaimed work,
A Candle to Light the Sun,
was published posthumously in 1960.
Sources:
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by
J. M. Bumsted (University of
Manitoba Press, 1999) : Memorable Manitobans Online (accessed December 2011)
|
Jo Ellen Bogart |
Born October 20, 1945, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Jo Ellen moved to Canada as an adult in 1975 and she began to consider a
career as a writer. By the mid 1980's she had several prepared manuscripts
to present to a publisher. Animals in the form a coatimundi, and
Argentine desert tortoise, and Africa Clawed frog, Alvin the chipmunk,
several mice gerbils and guinea pigs have been a part of her home menagerie
over the years. To write a book about a Blue Macaw was a natural stretch for
this author. For her, as an author, there is sheer enjoyment in making
something up and kicking the story. The next best thing is having other
people enjoying what she has written as a poem or a story. |
Alice Boissoneau |
née Eedy.
Born 1918, Walkerton, Ontario. Died 2007. She earned her B.A. from Victoria
College, University of Toronto, in 1939. While working as a hospital social
worker in Toronto and Vancouver she wrote short stories that appeared in
various magazines such as: Canadian Forum, Alphabet and Exile: A Literary
Quarterly. She also wrote for the Anthology series on CBC radio.
After marrying Arthur Boissoneau, a specialist in forestry, Alice began
writing fiction in the isolation of northern Ontario. The novel Eileen
McCullough was short listed in 1977 for the W. H. Smith/Books in Canada
First Novel Award, and was followed by A Sudden Brightness (1994).
The memoir There Will Be Gardens was published in 1991.
Sources:
Yvonne McKague Hauser Collection. E. ,J. Pratt Library, University of
Victoria Campus, University of Toronto. Online (accessed
July 2013.)
Suggestion submitted by Jeanne Ouellette, Ottawa,
Ontario. |
Evelyn/Eveline Bolduc |
Born July 8, 1888, St Victor de Beauce, Quebec.
Died December 21 / 22, 1939, Saint Georges-de-Beauce,
Quebec. Eveline studied at the Convent de la Congrégation Notre-Dame, Ottawa, Macdonald College,
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue . She also studied science and economics at Cornell
University. In 1930 she began her main career working as a translator
for the Canadian Senate in Ottawa where she was the
1st woman translator for the Debates of the Senate. She would establish herself by writing
Manuel de l'Equette curante parmi la bonne
société canadienne-française ( Ottawa, Queen's Printer, 1937)
and Contes et dictions populaires Canadiens.
(2019) |
Melvina Marjorie Bolus |
Born 1906, Fox Bay, Falkland Islands. Died 1997, Victoria, British Columbia.
When she was a child the family moved to England. and in 1926 to Ottawa.
Melvina held several secretarial positions at the House of Commons in Ottawa
from 1928 to 1939, most notably as personal secretary to Canada's 1st
female M. P., Agnes Macphail (1890-1954), from 1928 to 1936. Melvina returned to London,
where she worked until 1944 as personal assistant to the senior officer at
the Canadian Military Headquarters. She also held various positions with
the American government, working in New York and Washington, D.C. Returning
to Ottawa in 1946, she worked for the Canadian Geographical Society,
becoming assistant editor of the Canadian Geographical Journal in 1948. She
wrote of
Image of
Canada (Ryerson
Press,
1953). She moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1956 to become
assistant editor of the Hudson Bay Company
Beaver,
and then its editor from 1958 to 1972. She widened the scope of
the magazine beyond its historical focus, introducing such subjects as art,
nature and archaeology. Awards during her life, included the Canadian
Historical Association's Order of Merit, the Alberta Historical Association
Award, the Washington State Historical Society's Captain Robert Gray Medal
and the American Association of State and Local History Award of Merit. In
1970, she received the Medal of Service of the Order of Canada was awarded a
Manitoba Centennial Medal
by the Manitoba Historical Society. She retired to Victoria, British
Columbia.
Sources: Archives of Manitoba. Fonds of Malvina M. Bolus. Online
(Accessed December 2011) ; Memorable Manitobans Online. (accessed
December 2011) |
Denise Bombardier |
SEE - Journalists |
Monique Bosco |
Born June 8, 1927, Vienna, Austria. Died May 27, 2007, Montreal, Quebec.
After completing studies in France, Monique arrived in Canada and settled in
Montreal in 1948. She worked at Radio Canada International while completing
her PhD at the Université de Montréal in 1953. She worked as a journalist at
La Press and Le Devoir newspapers as well as being the
literary critic for MacLean’s Magazine. In 1961 she published her 1st
novel Un amour maladroit which won the ‘First Novel’ Award in the
U.S.A. In 1962 she became a professor of French literature at Université de
Montréal. She published numerous novels, collections of short stories, and
collected volumes of poetry all in her beloved French language. In 1970 she
earned the Governor’s General Award for French Language in Fiction for La
Femme de Loth. The book was translated the following year into English under
the title Lots’ Wife. In 1992 she won the Prix-Grandbois for poetry
and in 1996 she earned the Prix Athanase-David. (2022) |
Hazel Boswell 4025 |
Born 1862, Quebec City, Quebec. Died 1979. During World War l
(191401918) Hazel volunteered for hospital work in France. Hazel
created original watercolours for illustrations in her books. In 1938 she
published French Canada, pictures and Stories of Old Quebec and the
work was republished in 1967. In 1966 Legends of Quebec was
published. (2022) |
Paulette Bourgeois |
Born July 20, 1951, Winnipeg, Manitoba. If
you have read any children's stories about a shy turtle called Franklin then
you are familiar with the work of Paulette Bourgeois. She earned her
Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy in 1974 from the
University of Western Ontario (Western University) London, Ontario. She
worked as an psychiatric occupational therapist for three years before
becoming a full time author. She went on to study journalism at
Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario and worked as a reporter for the Ottawa
Citizen and CBC television. For awhile she was a freelance journalist in
Washington D.C., U.S.A. writing for Chatelaine, Canadian Living, Reader's
Digest and MacLean's magazine. In 1983, after returning to
Toronto she graduated with a Master's in Fine Art in Creative Writing from
the University of British Columbia in 2009. While she often takes
ideas for her books from her own life experiences she admits that she never
had a pet turtle! She also likes to write information books for young
readers like ; The Amazing Apple Book , The Amazing Paper Book,
or The Moon. In 2003 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In
2007 she received an Award of Merit form the Canadian Association of
Occupational Therapists. |
Gail Bowen |
née Bartholomew. Born
September 22, 1942, Toronto, Ontario. Gail graduated in 1964 the
University of Toronto and went on to earn her Master’s Degree
from the University of Waterloo and then she attended the
University of Saskatchewan. She taught English in Saskatchewan
and was an associate professor of English at First Nations
University of Canada. The author of several novels, she has set
her mystery stories in the province of Saskatchewan. Her book
character, Joanne Kilbourn, is an amateur sleuth who also is the
mother of three teenagers. Many of her writings have been
adapted as Canadian movies for TV. Gail is also an accomplished
playwright with her plays produced at the Globe Theatre in
Regina, Saskatchewan. In 2006 the CBC broadcast her radio play
Dr. Doolittle and in 2007 the CBC broadcast the World
According to Charlie D. Charlie D was successful and was
followed up within the year with another episode. And was part
of the WorldPlay series broadcast on public radio networks in 6
English speaking countries. In 2009 she was writer-in –residence
for the Toronto Reference Library and Calgary’s Memorial Park
Library in 2010. By 2010 Charlie D was appearing in published
mystery novellas. Gail was writer-in-residence for the Regina
Public Library in 2014-2015.
Sources: The
Canadian Encyclopedia Online (accessed 2006; mini biography
updated October 2014. Regina Public Library. |
Karleen Bradford |
Born December 16, 1936, Toronto, Ontario. Karleen was nine when she
moved with her family Argentina, South America and returned to Canada to
attend university. After graduation she travelled the world for 34
years as a Foreign Service Officer. Since 1977 she has enjoyed producing
some 20 books for young adult readers. She is a working mother of three
children who also found time to contribute to her profession by holding
positions at organizations such as the Writers Union of Canada, the Canadian
Authors' Association and the Public Lending Rights Commission. Her own books
have won awards such as; The Max and Greta Ebel Award 1990 ( Windward
Island ) and the Young Adult Canadian Book Award of the Canadian Library
Association in 1993. The titles of some of her other books include: The
Nine Days Queen, The Haunting at Cliff House, There Will Be Wolves, Animal
Heroes, Shadows on a Sword. Check the shelves of your local public
Library for these exciting titles. |
Dionne Brand
Black activist & Author |
Born
1953, Guayaguayare, Trinidad and Tobago. Dionne immigrated to Canada in 1970
and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto. By
1989 she had attained her Master's Degree from the Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education (O I S E) . From 1989 though 1996 she made a number od
documentary films with the National Film Board's feminist-film production
unit, Studio D. A
poet, novelist, and non-fiction writer she focuses on issues relating to
Black women. She is an active fighter for the rights of marginalized
communities, especially Blacks and women. Land to Light On won the 1997
Governor General's Award for poetry. Her writings have also earned the
Trillium Prize for Literature, the Pat Lowther Award for Poetry, the
Harbourfront Writers' Prize, and the Toronto Book Award among others
Dionne was Toronto's third poet Laureate from September 2009 though to
November 2022. In 2017 she was inducted into the Order of Canada.
(2023) |
Rella Aylestock Braithwaite |
SEE - Academics & Librarians - Historians |
Eleanor Brass |
SEE - Social Activists |
Mary Elizabeth Brehaut |
See - Academics - Historians |
Hélène Brodeur |
Born July 13,1923, Saint Léon
de Val Racine, Quebec. Died August 15, 2010, Ottawa, Ontario. The
family relocated to Ontario and she grew up in Val Gagné near
Timmins in Northern Ontario. Like many of her generation
she turned first to teaching for a career earning her teaching certificate from
the University of Ottawa. She returned to university in 1946 to earn
her Bachelor of Arts. After university she married Robert Nantais
and the couple had five children.
Hélène taught high school and wrote as a freelance
journalist for various newspapers and magazines and later she became a successful civil servant
working in information services for the federal Treasury Board. Through
all of this her desire to write remained strong. She has published works in
both English and French. She was known for the trilogies Les chroniques du
Nouvel-Ontario and The Saga of Northern Ontario and other
historical novels. Her works have earned the Prix Champlain, Prix du Nouvel-Ontario and
Prix du Droit. In 1983 she wrote the the TV script Les Ontariens in 1997.
(2022) |
Frances Brooke
Mary Singleton, Spinster
|
née
Moore. Born January 12, 1724, Claypole, Lincolnshire England. Died Jan 23,
1789, Seaford, England. Francis used the pseudonym Mary Singleton Spinster for
her early writings and in 1755-1755 she founded a magazine she called The
Old Maid which ran for 37 issues. Married in 1756 she gave up her
publication. She joined her husband, the Rev. John Brooke, garrison chaplain
at Quebec, from 1764 -1768. She wrote what may be described
as the first
Canadian novel The History of Emily Montague (4 vols. London 1769
reprinted in 1931) which was set in Quebec City.
The work provides a vivid
description of the Canadian landscape and social life including scandals of
the time. Back in England she would pen additional novels but no more with a
Canadian setting. She was also a playwright, essayist, librettist, and stage
director. She was well known in the London literary and theatrical circles.
She was one of the first women in the 18th century to live by her writing.
Source: D C B (2020) |
Chrystine Brouillet |
Born February 15, 1958, Loretteville, Quebec. Chrystine earned
her BA from Université Laval. She is a well known author of historical
novels and thrillers for children, youth and adults. In 1982 her 1st
novel Chère voisine was published. It was made into a film called
Good Neighbours and debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in
2010. She is the recipient of the French Ordre de la Pléiade and the Popular
Choice Award from the Salon
du livre de
Montréal. In 2007 she became a Member of the Order of
Canada.
(2019) |
Cassie Eileen Brown |
née Horwood. Born January 10, 1919, Rose Blanche, Newfoundland. Died December
30, 1986, Newfoundland & Labrador. Cassie began writing as a teenager and later worked as a freelance writer of
scripts and educational broadcasts for the C B C. She wrote articles for
various publications, short stories and participated in radio
dramatizations. In the 1950's her work received five awards through the
Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letter Competition. From 1959-1966 she
was a reporter for the Daily News and she also published and edited
the magazine Newfoundland Women (1961-1964). She retired from
the Daily News to work on her book Death on the Ice (1972), a
gripping account of the 1914 sealing disaster. She went on to write two
additional books. Her papers have been deposited in the Centre of
Newfoundland Studies. |
Lois Brown |
Lois is a
journalist and has worked many years in corporate communications. Lois has
lived in Maputo, Mozambique as an international volunteer during the
struggle against apartheid. She has travelled throughout the United Kingdom
and Europe during the 1970’s and as well has experienced extended stays in
Mexico and Costa Rica. In 1992 she published :Girls of Summer: In their
own League (Harper Collins). She maintains a web site with the same name
as the book, which updates research concerning members of the All American
Girls Professional Baseball League. She has written several novels, one of
which, Murder in the Clubhouse, is set in the shadow of the early
days of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. In 2009 Lois
was once again an international volunteer, this time in Northern India and
Pokhara, Nepal. Source:
The Girls of Summer by Lois Brown (accessed February 2014) |
Margaret Helen Brown
|
Born
1887, Tiverton, Ontario. Died 1978. After graduating high school in 1905 she
attended Normal School (teacher’s college) and then joined a cousin at
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. The two would graduate in 1912.
Together the cousins had joined the Student Volunteers, a Christian youth
movement and took extra courses in religion. They were cleared for mission
work by the Women’s Missionary Society of the Methodist (now United Church
of Canada) and prepared to sail for China. Margaret would return to school
during furloughs. In 1928 she attended the Ontario College of Education in
Toronto and in 1935 she earned a masters degree in Chinese Studies. Although
she began a doctoral program at Columbia University, New York, U.S.A. she
never completed her degree. In July 1913 she left Canada going to China
beginning a 38 year career of serving the call to mission in China. She
served in Hwaiking and was instrumental in opening the 1st
full primary school for girls in the city as well as a school for young
married women. During her 3rd term in China she became an editor
of the Christian Literature Society and later she worked as a translator for
the Canadian Commissioner of Trade. Her sill in the Chinese language even
permitted her to write books in the language! During the Japanese military
activities in China in the late 1930’s she worked from Hon Kong under the
British Consulate and although there were intervals in China once Communism
took over China foreign missionaries were not allowed on the mainland. Her
personal writings and those published have left a view of Christian Mission
efforts in a changing Chin., an area of history that is just being studied.
She retired home to Canada in 1956.
Sources: From the Pages
of Three Ladies: Canadian Women Missionaries in Republican China. By
Deborah Shulman (MA Thesis, Concordia University, 1996) ; |
Ruth Matheson Buck |
née Matheson.
Born November 24, 1905, St Barnabas Mission, Onion Lake Saskatchewan. Died
July 6, 2009. She was the daughter of Elizabeth Scott Matheson (1866-1958)
who was the 1st doctor in Saskatchewan. In 1928 she earned her BA
from the University of Manitoba and began teaching in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In
1933 she married Geoffrey Buck. In 1946 she and her daughter moved to
Regina, Saskatchewan. She was elected a a member of the Civic Voters
Standard and served on the Regina Collegiate Board until her retirement in
1967. In 1973 she published The voices of the Plaines Cree. She wrote
the biography of her mother entitled The Doctor Rode Side Saddle in
1974. The Ruth M. Buck School with the Regina School Board is named in her
honour. At her death she left an unpublished manuscript The Lives of Rory
McRae (1888-1977).
Source: Mrs.
Ruth M. Buck, Regina Board of Education. Online (accessed June 2014) |
Helen Lawrence Buckley |
SEE - Politicians & Civil Servants |
Margaret Buffie |
Born March 29, 1945, Winnipeg, Manitoba. For this author who
writes books for young readers, her inspiration often comes from happenings
in her own life. She has lots of ides for books and stories and often wishes
she was more than one person so she could put all of her ideas into her
computer. She suggests that aspiring young writers keep a combination diary
sketchbook to collect information and pictures which could be used for
writing a book. Margaret won the Vicky Metcalf Award in 1996. This award is
presented to authors who have written more than 4 books which young readers
find an inspiration. Her writings have garnered numerous awards including in
1994 the Saskatchewan Book Awards Book of the Year, in 1995 the Marian Engel
Award and in 1999 the Giller Prize for her work The Good House. |
Françoise Bujold
Author, Poet, & Graphic Artist |
Born March 6, 1933, Bonaventure, Quebec. Died
January 18, 1881, Montreal. After leaving her school with the nuns of the
Holy Rosary she attended the Montreal Institute of Graphic Arts. In 1953 she
created her firs post poems with Gilles Constantineau. Her first collection
of her works was with Editions Erta: Au Catalog de solitudes in 1955.
This was followed in 1958 with La Fille unique. She went on to write
tales and illustrated them with linocut illustrations by children. She
earned a Bachelor's degree in pedagogy from the Ecole des beaux-arts
de Montreal. In the 1960's she worked producing books with Micmac children.
She co-directed a film about these Micmac children; The World Will Take
Us for Savages in 1964 with the National Film Board (N F B). In 1968 she
gave a workshop for children on the boat L'Escale. In 1882 an anthology of
her works, Piouke unique girl was produced and that same year an
exhibition of her works was held at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.
In 1991 through 2000 the Françoise-Bujold Prize was presented.
(2024) |
Angela "Bunny' Burke-Kerrigan
4866 |
Born October 3, 1920, Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.
Died September 30, 2014, Knowlton, Quebec. Angela's Parents had traveled to
Buffalo from their home in Timmins, Ontario, because Buffalo had good
hospitals. Angela was born a dual citizen. She attended Loretto Abbey
Convent in Toronto and Couvent de Ste. Marie, a French language boarding
school, Haileybury, Ontario, and Branksome Hall, a private girls school. In
1938 she and her sister had a chaperoned tour of Europe. Back home in
Canada, she graduated from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. During World
War ll (1939-1945) she was living in Washington D.C. Returning to Canada at
the end of the war she began her newspaper career as women's editor of the
Timmins Daily Press but found the work rather boring and in 1946 she
was in New York City, U.S.A. taking journalism classes at Columbia
University. She was soon working with the Kemsley newspaper chain
interviewing British and American celebrities. After the death of her father
she returned to Canada working at the Toronto Star.
She would become the first female reporter to sit
in the city room of the Toronto Star. Her work took her
across North America and Mexico chasing stories and interviewing such
notables as Helen Keller who had had questions tapped on her hand by her
companion. In 1955 she spent six weeks in the Soviet Union and in 1956
she was with Grace Kelly at hew wedding in Monaco. She would cover election
campaigns and royal tours. By 1970 she was working as a host for a CBC
current affairs program in Ottawa. She went on to become a public relations
director for the Canada Centennial Commission and the Royal Commission on
the Status of Women. In 1972 she married Richard 'Dick' Kerrigan a Montreal
businessman, becoming step mother to his two children. and settled in
Knowlton, Quebec. In 1977 she became guardian of her two nieces.
Suggested by Diane Armstron, Timmins, Ontario Source:
Female reporter made history in her industry by Fred Langan, The Globe and
Mail, October 31, 2014, online Accessed 2014. |
Mabel
Grace Burkholder
3484 |
Born March 15, 1881, Hamilton, Ontario. Died May 12, 1973,
Hamilton, Ontario. As many young women of her era Mabel earned a teaching
certificate and taught school. She published poems, short stories, and local
histories of Hamilton, Ontario from 1011 through 1968. She penned a local
history column in the Hamilton Spectator newspaper. Mabel was a member of
the local Canadian Womens Press Club (CWPC). In 1923 she published the book,
Before the White Man Came: Indian Legends and Stories and in 1938 she
published The Story of Hamilton. In 1938 she was names as Hamilton's
first Citizen of the year. (2021) |
Bonita 'Bonnie' Amelia Burnard |
née Huctwith. Born
January 15, 1945, Pretoria, Ontario. Died March 4, 2017, London, Ontario.
Bonnie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario in 1967.
In 1973 she married Ronald Burnard and this mother of three was a teacher and guest lecturer.
The family lived in Saskatchewan for two decades before settling in London,
Ontario where Bonnie served as a writer-in-residence at Western University. She
has toured South Africa, Sweden, Germany, and England. For her short
stories, she has been awarded the Commonwealth Best First Book Award
in 1989, Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award in 1994, the Marian Engel Award
in 1994 and the Giller Award in1999. She would serve as a juror for the
Giller Award for two years. Her last novel was Suddenly, published in
2009. |
Sheila Philip Cochrane
Burnford |
Born
May 11,1918, Scotland. Died April 20 1984, Bucklers Hard, Hampshire, England.
Sheila attended schools in Scotland, France, and Germany. In 1941 she
married Dr. David Burnford and the couple had three children and three
beloved family pets that inspired Sheila to write books. In 1951 the family
emigrated to live in Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay), Ontario. As an author she is perhaps best known for her novel
about animals called the Incredible Journey. The book won the
Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award and the American Library
Association Aurianne Award in 1963. Although Sheila wrote the book for
adults it was marketed for children. The book became an immediate
international best seller when it became a Walt Disney movie.
It is a great story about three friends, a bull terrier, a golden Labrador,
and a Siamese cat who travel over 300 km through northern Ontario
wilderness to return home. It
was remade in 1993 as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. She
also wrote about her summers in Nunavut on Baffin Island in the book, One
Woman's Arctic published in 1973.
(2019) |
Dorothy Kate
Burnham |
Born November 6, 1911. Died October 24, 2004. At 17 Dorothy was
working at the Royal Museum as a second assistant draftsman. By 1939 she had
become the museums 1st curator of textiles. She took training in Canada and
studied positions in Europe to take on her new job. In 1944 she married
Harold B. Burnham and the couple worked, together at times, on research
together on Canadian and world textiles. In 1971 she published Keep Me Warm
One Night: Early Hand weaving in Eastern Canada. Dorothy would take leave
from 1949 to 1973 to raise her family and operate a private weaving business
Burnham&Burnham. She returned to working at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1973
publishing Cut My Cote about basic garment construction around the world.
Retiring from the ROM in 1977 she published Warp & Weft: A Dictionary of
Textile Terms in 1981. She continued to work in the filed with projects at
the National Gallery of Canada, the Provincial Museum of Alberta and the
Canadian Museum of Civilization (now the Canadian Museum of History). In
1984 she became a Member of the Order of Canada.
(2019) |
Christine Cameron |
Born 1947, Toronto, Ontario. Christina studied literature at
the University of Toronto and went on to earn her Master's degree from Brown
University, Providence, Rhode Island in 1970. Her PhD in architecture
history from Laval University, Quebec City in 1983. She married and is also
known by her married name Southam. She has worked with Parks Canada and has
written documents and books on Canadian architecture, heritage management
and world heritage. In the 1990's she worked with Heritage Canada as
Director of General of National Historic Sites and Secretary of the Historic
Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. In 1990 through 2008 she was appointed
Head of the Canadian Delegation of the World Heritage Committee. In 2008 she
received the Government of Canada's Outstanding Achievement Award which is
the highest honor of excellence in the federal public service. In 2012
Cameron held the Canada Research Chair in Architectural Heritage at the
University of
Montreal's School of Architecture. She was also
vice-president of the Canadian Commission of UNESCO. |
Grace MacLennan Grant
Campbell |
née Grant.
Born March 18, 1895, Williamstown, Ontario. Died May 31, 1963,
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, in
1915.she earned her teaching certificate and had a career in teaching. In 1919
she married Harvey Campbell and the couple raised three children together. She would also practice her avocation
of writing. She had articles and short stories published in several Canadian
magazines. Her novels, published mainly in the 1940's, included The
Thorn-apple Tree (Toronto, 1942), which depicted pioneer life in Ontario. Fresh Wind Blowing (Toronto,
1947) which had a World War ll (1939-1945) setting in Europe and The Tower in the Town (Toronto, 1950)
and her last work Highland Heritage was published in 1962. (2021). |
Lydia Campbell |
née Brooks. Born November 1, 1818, Hamilton Inlet, Labrador.
Died April 1905. One of the children of an English settler and his Inuit
wife, she lived her entire life in her native Labrador. As an old woman , a
journalist , Arthur Charles Waghorn, sent her a journal and asked her
to write down memories of Labrador life and ways. In 1894-1895 13
installments of her writings appeared in the St John's Evening Herald in
Newfoundland. Her reflections went beyond the personal and provided a first
hand account to life and lore of her home territory. Lydia had married twice
and was the mother of 13 children. It is thanks to her sharing her life
memories and knowledge that information of nineteenth century Labrador has a
written record. |
|
|
Maria Campbell
Indigenous Activist & Author |
Born April 6,1940, near Athlone, Edmonton, Alberta. In Edmonton she assisted in founding a halfway house for
women and a women's emergency shelter. She began writing in 1973 because she
was upset that so few people knew about historic and contemporary
Native Cultures. Her 1st book was a memoir, Halfbreed which
is used in schools across Canada continuing to inspire indigenous women. She
herself is fluent in 4 languages: Cree, Michif, Saulteaux and English. Her
books have been translated into German, Chinese, French and Italian. Her
1st professionally produced play, Flight, was the 1st
all Aboriginal theatre production in modern CanadaShe has written screenplays and books.
In 1986 she was presented with the Dora Mavor Award and the Chalmers Award
for Best New Play. .In 1992 she earned the Gabriel Dumont Institute
Medal of Merit She has written and/or
directed films by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), including My Partners My People,
which aired on CTV for 3 years. She is coordinator and member of Sage
Ensemble, a community theatre group for Aboriginal elders, and is
actively associated with the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company in
Saskatoon. Maria is also a volunteer, activist and advocate for Aboriginal
rights and the rights of women. She sits as an Elder on the Saskatchewan
Aboriginal Justice Commission and is a member of the Grandmothers for
Justice Society. Her writings and her efforts for justice have been
recognized in 1994 with the Saskatchewan Achievement Award and in 1996 with
the National Aboriginal Achievement Award In 2006 she was honoured with the
Saskatchewan Order of Merit. In 2008 she was inducted as an Officer of the
Order of Canada. Over the years she has also served as Writer In Residence
for the University of Alberta, Regina Public Library, Prince Albert Public
Library, University of Saskatchewan and University of Winnipeg. |
Marjorie Elliott Wilkins
Campbell |
née Wilkins. Born 1901, London, England. Died November 23,
1986. As a toddler in 1904 Marjorie immigrated to Canada with her family
settling in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. Marjorie began her love of
writing and of history in high school. She originally worked as a freelance
writer and became editor of Magazine Digest in Montreal and the
women's editor of Canadian Magazine. In 1931 she married Angus
Campbell. and continued her writing career. Her 1st book, The Soil is Not
Enough was published. She would go on to write a total of 13 historical
books by 1983. In 1959 she earned an Guggenheim Fellowship. She traveled
throughout North America, England and Europe before publishing her book,
No Compromise, in 1965. |
Marjorie
Freeman
Campbell
3485 |
Born 1896, Delhi, Ontario. Died 1975, Toronto, Ontario.
Marjorie Married William MacFarlane Campbell. After her children with grown
Marjorie began to take writing seriously. In 1946 she published a collection
of poetry with the Ryerson Press chapbook series called Merry-Go-Round
which she dedicated to her son. In 1953 she published a biography,
Holbrook of the San, which she followed in 1956 with the Hamilton
General Hospital School of Nursing in 1956. She enjoyed writing
local history publishing A Mountain and a City: The Story of Hamilton in
1966. In between her published books she wrote articles on
religion, medicine and business. In 1976 she began writing about crime
penning Torso, the Evelyn Dick Case in 1976. Two years later she
published: A century of Crime: The Development of Crime Detection Methods
in Canada. Some of her papers are maintained at the McMaster University
Archives, Hamilton. In 2002 a made for television movie; Torso, The
Evelyn Dick Story was based on her work. (2021) |
Pat Capponi |
SEE - Social Activists |
Janet Carnochan |
Born November 14, 1839 Stamford, Canada West (now Ontario). Died
March 31, 1926. She was a teacher who loved history. She was a tireless
worker for the Niagara-on-the-Lake Historical Society in Ontario. She wrote
several local church histories in the late 1890's and is the author of
History of Niagara (Toronto, 1914) |
Carleton, Cousin Mary |
SEE - May Agnes Fleming |
Emily Carr |
SEE - Artists - Painters |
Bertha Hannah - Carr |
SEE - Writers - Authors |
Anne Laurel
Carter |
Born September 1953, Don
Mills, Ontario. As a child she had wanted to be an actor but
was much too shy. She entered the study of medicine at the University of
Toronto but dropped out and headed for Israel where she lived and worked on
a Kibbutz, a community farm. She married and the young couple moved to
California and finally settled in Toronto. Back home she earned her BA at
York University in 1975 and continued to worked to earn her Masters in
education at the Ontario Institute of Education. In the 1980’s she was
teaching Cree children in Northern Quebec. Her 1st novel In the
Clear was about a youth with polio was published in 1984. She remarried and
settled once again in Toronto and worked as a teacher-librarian. She has
written numerous books, with Last Chance Boy winning the Book of the Year
award from the Canadian Library Association and Under a Prairie Sky winning
the Mr. Christie’s Book Award. She has also written for the series Our
Canadian Girl.
Source: Anne Laurel Carter official web site (accessed November 2012.) |
Agnes Dunbar Moodie Fitzgibbon
Chamberlin |
née Moodie. Born June 9, 1833, Coburg, Canada West (now
Ontario). Died May 1, 1913, York, Ontario. Agnes was the daughter of the
famous early Canadian writer Susanna Moodie (1803-1885). When she was 17 she
married Charles Thomas Fitzgibbon (1805-1865) and the couple had eight
children. In 1863 she began to paint images of the wild flowers she saw. A
few years later in 1868 she and her aunt, another early Canadian writer,
Catherine Parr Traill (1802-1899) co published Canadian Wild Flowers. After
the death of her husband Agnes became more serious about her watercolour
painting since she now needed to support her family. She published more
editions of Canadian Wild Flowers in 1869 and 1895. Agnes prepared the
lithographic stone and hand coloured the illustrations in all the books. In
1870 Agnes married for a second time to Brown Chamberlin (1827-1897) and the
couple had one child. Source: ECWW Online. (2020) |
Gillian Chan |
Born 1954, England. After secondary school, Gillian worked at various places
including a bank and restaurants. By the mid 1970’s she decided to study to
become a teacher and by 1980 she had earned a degree in English and
Education. In 1982 she married Henry Chan and the couple had one son. She
taught for 10 years prior to immigrating to Canada and settling in Dundas,
Ontario. In 1991 she took a course on writing short stories. Later she met
the editor of Kids Can Press where she would publish her first book
Golden Girl and Other Stories. More books soon followed in 1996, 2001, ,
2002, 2004 and 2005. She then took some time from writing to care for her
son until he went to school. Commemorating the 100th anniversary
of the War of 1812 she published I am Canada: a call to battle about
the war. The book was the winner of the Ontario South Library Association
White Pine Award and the Nautilus Award for Best Young Adult Book. |
Lily Changfoot |
Lily has
authored numerous books including Let’s stay to dine Chinese which
has been published several times. In 1972 she did a Chinese cooking show on
TV. Proceeds from her Chinese cooking book and A many –coloured South
Africa: the diary of a non-person (Bonsecour Editions, 1982) have been
donated to Northern Peoples of Canada, The Canadian Save the Children Fund
and toward scholarships for indigenous peoples of Canada pursuing higher
education. She is a member of P. E. N. International, The Canadian Authors
Association and in 1985 she joined The Media Club of Canada. Lily also
earned a renowned reputation as a fashion designer. In 1986 she was
commissioned to design and create a Marian Papal Vestment for Pope John Paul
ll. Source: Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada 1991. |
Brenda Chapman |
Born 1955, Terrace Bay, Ontario. Brenda graduated with her BA from Lakehead
University, Thunder Bay, Ontario. She went on to earn her Bachelor of
Education from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. She was the 1st
teacher of special education in the city of Ottawa. Brenda married Ted
Chapman and the couple have 2 daughters. Brenda stayed home while her girls
were young. She taught part time and took courses at Carleton University in
honours English. In 1997 she left the teaching profession to became a
communications advisor in the federal government. President of the Capitol
Crime Writer’s in Ottawa she writes mystery stories for youth 10 years and
up with 14 books to her credit by 2017. In 2006 she was the Canadian Book
Center ‘Our Choice” novel for her book Hiding in Hawkes Creek. In
2008 she earned the Audrey Jessup Award for Best Short Story ‘Evening the
Score’. She has also earned two Gold Oak Awards for adult literacy and two
crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Awards for novella and crime novel of
the year. |
Harriet Vaughn Cheney
4014 |
née Foster. Born September 9, 1796, Brighton, Massauchetts,
U.S.A. Died May 14, 1889. Harriet published her first works in Boston. In
1830 she married Edward Cheney (died 1845). The couple had four children and
the family settled in Montreal. Harriet contributed poems and stories to the
Literary Garland which was Canada's main literary journal. In 1846 she and
her sister Eliza Lanesford Cushing (1794-1886), who was also now settled in Montreal,
established t the Snow Drop, a monthly girls magazine. In all Harriet
published five books. (2022) |
Adrienne Choquette 4090 |
SEE - Journalists |
Alice Amelia
Chown |
Born February 3,1866, Kingston, Canada West (now Ontario). Died March 2, 1949,
Toronto, Ontario.
Educated at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Alice graduated in 1887. She became an active
suffragist and was also know as a promoter of unions. In 1912 she was a
founding member of the Toronto Equal Franchise League. She denounced the
church and wartime attitudes with her unwavering belief in pacifism. She wrote her autobiography, The Stairway,
published in Boston, Massachusetts
in 1921. In 1930 she founded the Women's League of Nations
Association which provided a platform for peace and her own popular dramatic
sketches. Source: Canadian Encyclopedia online |
Mary Anne
'Annie' Bessie Rothwell Christie |
née Fowler. Born March 31, 1837, London, England. Died July 2, 1927, New
Liskard, Ontario. Annie came to Canada as a young child with her family and
settled on Amherst Island near Kingston, Ontario. She was educated at home
by family and governoresses. Her father was a respected landscape artist.
May 19, 1862 she married Richard Rothwell (died 1874) young Annie married a second time the the
Reverend I. J. Christie and settled in the North Gower, Ontario in the
spring of 1895. She is known for her short stories and her five novels which
appeared first as magazine sequels. Recognition as a poet was earned when
some of her poetry was turned into songs used in "The half breed rebellions".
In 1896 she was a corresponding member of the Women's Canadian Historical
Society of Toronto. 1888 through 1890 she was secretary of the Department of
Literature of the Women's Auxiliary for the Diocese of Ontario in the
Anglican Church. By 1904 the couple were living in Ottawa. (2024) |
Joan Clark |
née MacDonald. Born October 12, 1934, Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
Joan earned her bachelor degree in 1957 from Acadia University in Nova
Scotia. She worked for 20 years as a teacher in Alberta. In 1968 she
published her 1st novel, Girl of the Rockies. At the University of
Alberta, Edmonton, she was co-founder of the literary journal Dandelion in
1974. Joan, a founding member of the Writer's Guild of Alberta, also held
the position of President. Joan moved back to the Maritimes settling in St.
John's, Newfoundland.
In 1988 she published The Victory of
Geraldine Gull, her first book of adult fiction. This book was a
finalist for the Governor General’s Award and it won The Canadian Authors
Association Literary Award for fiction. In 1991
she earned the Marian Engle Award followed in 1995 with the Geoffrey Bilson
Award for her work, The Dream Carvers. In 1999 she was awarded the
Vicky Metcalf Award for literature for youth. In 2001 Joan served as a
member of the jury for the renowned Giller Prize for Canadian literature. In
2003 her book The Word for Home earned her a second Geoffrey Bilson
Award. In 2010 she was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada. |
Léa
Clermont-Dion |
Born April 5, 1991, Quebec. In 2006 at 14, she worked to
organize a feminist conference at he the
Université du
Québec, Montréal
and she was a member of the Youth committee of the Quebec Council on the
Status of Women.
Léa
suffers from anorexia nervosa. She worked on a petition that was tabled in
the National Assembly of Quebec that led to the Quebec Charter for a Healthy
and Diverse Body image.
Léa
speaks at schools each year as the official spokesperson for the charted. In
2011 she was named Personnalité par Excellence by
Forces Avenir. She studied in Paris, France to earn her Bachelor's degree
and went on to earn a Master's degree from Laval University in
feminist studies. She worked with an internship in Burkina Faso as part of
Oxfam. Her first book, La revanche des moches (English:
The Revenge of the Uglies), published in 2014,
examines the collective obsession with appearance and beauty. She and music
artist, Mitsou, co-host a feminist documentary series and in 2017 she worked
on her 1st feature-length documentary covering sexual harassment on the
internet. (2019) |
Elizabeth Anne
Cleaver
|
née Mrazik. Born
November 19,1939, Montreal, Quebec. Died July 27, 1985, Montreal,
Quebec. An illustrator and author, Elizabeth
was most concerned with myths and legends. She obtained several awards
for her works including The Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1972, the Frances Howard-Gibbon Award in 1978 and
the International Board on Books for Young People's Hans Christian
Andersen Award in 1882. She was elected to the Royal Canadian
Academy of Arts in 1974. Elizabeth earned her Master's in Fine Art from
Concordia University, Montreal in 1980.
In 1985 the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award was
created. Maybe you have seen her works The Loon’s
Necklace or the The Enchanted Caribou which is an Inuit
legend illustrated with shadow puppets? The Library and Archives
Canada hold the original illustrations for eleven of her 13 books.
(2019) |
Sheila Watt Cloutier
Inuit Activist
|
SEE - Social Activists |
Lynn Coady |
Born January 24, 1970, Port
Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. Lynn attended Carleton University in Ottawa,
Ontario and worked at odd jobs in New Brunswick and began writing plays. In
1996 she was attending the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to
earn her Master's degree. In 1998 she published her 1st book, Strange
Heaven, which was nominated for a Governor General's Award. In 2000 her
second book was a play the was a Globe and Mail Newspaper Best book. She
earned the Air Canada Award for Best Writer under thirty and the Dartmouth
Book and Writing Award for fiction. In 2013 she earned the Scotia Bank
Giller Prize for her collection of short stories, Hellgoing. She has
also written several plays and contributes stories to various Canadaian
magazines and the Globe and Mail. In 2017 she was a juror for the Giller
award. (2019) |
Eleanor Coerr |
Born May 29, 1922, Kamsack,
Saskatchewan. Died California November 22, 2010, New York City, U.S.A.. One
of her best friends in school was daughter of Japanese immigrants and
Eleanor learned to enjoy origami and Japanese food. She married a U.S. Air
Force officer but retained her independence. In 1949 she was the only person
who applied to the Ottawa Journal newspaper to be a foreign
correspondent to describe conditions in postwar Japan. Since there were no
civilian ships nor planes to Japan at that time she sail on A Dutch
freighter to take up her new job. She lived with a Japanese farm family in
the middle of nowhere prior to moving to Hiroshima. The she was unprepared
for the devastation she saw. In the 1950’s she became of mother to two sons,
one born in Japan and the second in Alabama. She continued her writing while
traveling to postings with her husband in California, The Philippines, and
Taiwan. Returning to Hiroshima, Japan in 1963 she was enthralled and
mesmerized with the beautiful Pease Park with the statue with a young girl
at the top. The monies to build the park had been raised in part by selling
the story of the youth on the statue, Sadako. Eventually Eleanor found the
story of the youth Sadako and the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper
Cranes was published in 1977. The book spawned web sites, lesson plans,
and popularized origami. The story inspired works of music, theatre and
ballet. As Eleanor entered her second marriage to Wymberly de Renne Coerr
(1913-1996), the couple traveled as diplomats. She earned her Bachelor of
Arts in English from American University and a Masters of Library Science
from the University of Maryland. She went on to publish several dozen books
for youth including biographies, easy to read adventure tales, and sensitive
accounts of children from other cultures.
The Toronto Public Library retains her papers as part of the Osborne
Collection of Early Children's Books. Sources: “Eleanor Coerr…”.School Library Journal November
30, 2010 ; Ewing-Weisz, Chris “Visits to Hiroshima prompted a book promoting
peace” The Globe and Mail October 21, 2011 Page R 9 .
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa
(2021) |
Marjorie Griffin Cohen |
SEE - Academics & Librarians |
Caroline Martha 'Carol / Carrie'
Cassidy Cole-Manchee
3668 |
Born April 17, 1881, Akron, Ohio, U.S.A. Died 1963? Toronto,
Ontario. All her education was taken in Akron where she attended the
University of Akron. About1901 she married Orril Allen Cole (1874-1925) and
the couple settled in Toronto and they had two children. It was during the
1920's under the name of Carol Cassidy Cole she published three
children's novels. After becoming a widow she returned to Akron, Ohio where
she served as editor of the club page of the Akron Beacon-Journal. In 1929
she married Percival Manchee (1899-1970?). Two of her early novels were
re-released in the 1940's just prior to the publication of her last book,
Little Wooden Duck in 1945. Source: E C W W online
(accessed 2022) |
Karen Marie
Connelly
Poet & Author |
Born March 12, 1969, Calgary, Alberta. As a teen of 17 Karen
was working in a Thai Village on a Rotary Club exchange scholarship
beginning her love of travel. At 19 she was living in Spain and supporting
herself by teaching English as a second language. In 1991 she was in France
to learn French. She was off to Greece next and this country quickly became
a Favourite place to revisit. In 1993 she was the youngest person to ever
win a Governor General's Award in literature for her book Touch the Dragon:
A Thai Journal. Her 1st book of poetry; The Small Words in My Body won the
Pat Lowther Award in 1990. She has been writer in residence at the
University of New Brunswick and Okanagan College in Penticton, British
Columbia. Since 1997 to 2018 she has produced 11 books of poetry, fiction
and creative non-fiction. She has enjoyed fundraising for PEN Canada and
worked with Syrian newcomers to Canada. (2019) |
Evelyn 'Lyn' Margaret Cook-Waddell
|
nee Cook.
Born May 4, 1918, Islington, Ontario. Died July 14, 2018, Ottawa, Ontario. In 1940 she earned a scholarship to the
University of Toronto (U of T) and earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree. She continued her studies with post graduate work
for a Bachelor of Library Science from the U of T. In 1946 she used her
grandmother’s name, Margaret Culverhouse, to publish a poem in the June 1946
issue of the Canadian Poetry Magazine. With that same name she published
three poetry chapbooks. She worked at the Toronto Public
Library for a year and then joined the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division in the
Meteorological Service for three years During World War ll (19139-1945). She also organized a library at the
military base in Trenton, Ontario. After the war she served as the first
Children’s Librarian at the Sudbury Public Library. She Married Robb John
Waddell (1911-1988) on September 9, 1949. In 1952 the couple settled in
Scarborough, (now part of greater Toronto) and had two children. Using the
Pen name Lyn Cook, her first book,
Bells on Finland Street, was published in 1950. Lyn became one
of the first writers for children to be published after the war. Her books,
written for the youth market, took place in Canadian places and often told
the story of the Canadian multicultural scene. It has been said that she
literarily developed the prototype of the hyphenated Canadian ( i.e.
Finnish-Canadian) While in Sudbury she developed a ½ hour C B C radio show
A
Doorway to Fairland and was a regular asset to C B C Radio in the 1940’s and
1950’s with the show also being picked up in the U.S.A. She created the
Radio show Sounds Fun and wrote plots for the Uncle Chichimus puppet
show. Moving to Scarborough, Ontario, in the 1960 she told stories at the
Bendale Branch of the Scarborough Public Library. In 1965 she wrote the Brownie’s
Handbook for Girl Guides of Canada. As a Canadian Centennial project in
1967 she adapted her book Samantha’s Secret Room for National School
telecast as a Television series. Among the many awards accumulated by her
more than 20 books was the 1978 Vicky Metcalf Award for contribution to
Children’s Literature. Sources: “Lyn Cook”
by Ruth Maydan in Profiles, Canadian Library Association, 1971;
Creating the National Mosaic. Multiculturalism in Canadian Children’s
Literature 1950-1994 by Miriam Verena Rihter. |
Monique Corriveau |
née
Chouinard. Born
September 6, 1927, Québec City, Quebec. Died June 24, 1976, Québec City,
Quebec. Monique attended the
University of Toronto in 1946 and Université Laval in 1948 earning her BA in
1950. She would return
to Laval for additional studies in 1969 and 1974. Married Monique married
Bernard Corriveau and became the
mother of 10 children. She wrote and dedicated a book for young readers
to each of her children. More of her books were published posthumously in
1980 and 1985. In 1958 and again in 1966 she won the Prix de l’A.C.E.L.F.(
Association canadienne des éducateurs de langue française.) In 1966 she
earned the Prix Marie Rollet, Médaille de l’Association de bibliothèquaires
du Canada and from the same association in 1976 Prix Alvine-Bélisle. In 1967
she received the Canadian Centennial Commission Award/Prix de la Commission
du centenaire du Canada. In 1971 she was presented with the Prix Michelle-Le
Normand of the Société des écrivains canadiens. The library of Eglise Saint
Denys-du-plateau is named in her honour as is the Public Library in Sainte
Foy Québec.
Source:
“Monique Corriveau”: Profiles, Canadian Library Association, 1971.
|
Luella Saunders Creighton |
née Bruce. Born August 25, 1901, Stouffville, Ontario. Died March
6, 1996. She was a
teacher in a rural Ontario School from 1920-21. In 1924-1926 she attended
Victoria College at the University of Toronto. In 1926 she married Donald
Creighton (1902-1977) She enjoyed writing novels and romances and was well
known for her work High Bright Buggy Wheels (McClelland & Stewart, 1951)
which drew from Mennonite history in the Markham area of Ontario. 6
additional works followed each drawing on settings in Canadian History. She
was supported in her writing by her husband, Donald Creighton,(1902-1979) a
well known and respected Canadian Historian who died in 1979.
Source:
Canadian Women of Note (Toronto, Canadian Women’s Press Club/York
University, 1994) no. 193 page 201. |
Constance Elvia
Crook |
Born September 29, 1930, Ameliasburg, Ontario. She attended Queen’s
University, Kingston, Ontario on writing scholarships for her BA and
completed graduated studies at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, U.S.A.
She then studied for her diploma in education from the University of Toronto
in 1955. She married the Reverend F. Reginald Brown and the couple had two
daughters. Constance resumed her teaching career upon the death of her
husband. She remarried a second time to Albert W. Cook. She taught English
and Latin for 30 years in high schools throughout Ontario. She also was a
teacher of developmental reading and English as a second language. When she
retired for teaching she finally had time to devote to her writing. She
enjoys writing novels with Canadian historical settings for young readers.
Many of her stories are based on her own family history. This retired
teacher and grandmother is perhaps best known by her pen name: Connie
Brummel Crook. She has written Laura's Choice (1993), Nellie L
(1994) and Meyers Creek (1995) to name a few of her works. She has
earned the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and
the Canadian Children’s Book Center Choice designation in 1995. In 1998 she
earned the Storytelling World Award Honours Title for Tellable Stories for
Ages 13-17 and the Canadian Children’s Book Center Choice designation for
Maple Moon, her 1st child’s picture book. On
July 15, 2000, Connie was one of the honourable inductees for the year into
Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame.
In 2002 she earned the Word Guild Novel Award for The Hungry Year and
in 2004 was co-recipient of the Word Guild Award for The Perilous Year.
Some of her writings have been translated into Braille and have been adapted
as sound recordings.
On June 11,
2008, Connie received the Leslie K. Tarr Award for Outstanding Career
Achievement. Source:
Connie Brummel Cook website Online (accessed September 2012) |
May Cutler |
SEE - Businesswomen |
Ebbitt Cutler |
SEE - Businesswomen - May Cutler |
Eliza Lanesford Cushing
4015 |
née Foster. Born October 19, 1794
Brighton, Massauchetts, U.S.A. Died May 4, 1886, Montreal, Quebec. Eliza
published two early novels in Boston. In 1828 she married Canadian Dr.
Frederick Cushing. In 1833 she and her husband settled in Montreal. Using
the nom-de-plume 'E. L/ C. she and her sister Harriet Vaughan Cheney
(1796-1889), who also lived in Montreal published regularly had
stories and poems published in the Literary Garland, Canada's top
literary magazine of the day. Some of her works continued to be published in
the U.S.A. with plays and short stories being published in Godey's Lady
Book, out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both widowed the two sisters
founded Snow Drop, a monthly girl's Magazine in 1847. Eliza also became
editor of the Literary Garland. Source: Encyclopedia of Literature
in Canada (Toronto, U of T Press, 2002) (2022) |
Annie
Charlotte
Dalton |
née
Armitage. Born December 9, 1865, Birkkby, England. Died January 12, 1938. She would
immigrate to Canada with her husband in 1904. She began publishing her works
in 1910 and publish some 8 volumes through to 1935. She was well known and
respected as a novelist in her own era spanning some thirty years. |
Joséphine Hersélie Henriette Dandurand
'Josette' |
née
Marchand. Born December 5, 1861, Saint-Jean, Lower Canada (now Quebec).
Died March 2, 1925, Montreal, Quebec. Joséphine was educated in a convent
and was totally bilingual. She began writing in 1879 and had short stories
published in Le Franco-Canadien (her father's publication), La Patrie, and
L'Opinion publique. Like many early women writers she would use a pen name
to sigh her writing. She was known as 'Josette'. A strong feminist she
championed the role of women in Quebec society. January 12, 1886 she married
Raoul Dandurand (1861-1942), a future senator. The couple had one daughter.
In 1888 she published a play, Quand on s'aime, on se marie, which was
followed the next year by Contes de Noel, a collection of short stories. In
1892 she founded Le coin de feu, a monthly magazine, which was the
first women's literary review in Canada. She was also a strong orator.
Closing her publication in 1896 she continued to write for other Montreal
publications. In 1898 she founded
Oeuvre de livres gratuits which provided literary tools for rural teaches.
That same year she became the first Canadian
woman to become an Officer of the French Academy in France.
In 1900 she was a government appointed commissioner to the famous Paris
Exhibition in France. IN 1900 in her work, Two Systems of Art, she
proposed that the government provide finding for the arts. This was a full
50 years before the Canada Council of the Arts. In 1900 she helped to found
the women's section of the Association Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montreal. She
served as vice president of the provincial National Council of Women in
1912-13 and again in 1917-1919 and she also served on the local executive of
the organization. Source: D C B (2022) |
Marie-Claire Daveluy |
SEE - Academics - Librarians |
Paule Clouthier-Daveluy |
née Clouthier.
Born April 6, 1919*, Montreal, Quebec. October 29,
2016, Quebec. Paule took
social services courses at Soeur du bonne conseil. She began
working at C K A C Radio station and it was not long until she was editing
radio broadcasts. In 1944 she married André Daveluy (1911-2004) and the couple would
have six children. In 1957 she wrote a collection of short stories for youth
readers called Les Guinoes and continued to write in her beloved French language
for young teens. In 1958 she earned the Concours Littéaire from the Association canadienne des
éducateurs de langue français. In 1972 she received the Prix Michelle-Le
Normand of the Société des écrivains canadiens. In 1980 Her works were
recognized with a certificate of honor from L ‘Union international pour les
livres de jeunesse (International Union for youth books) In 1985 she
received the Prix Claude-Aubrey and in 1987 Prix Fleury Mesplet pour
l’esemble de son oeuvre de traduction. In 1999 she was inducted into the
Order of Quebec/Ordre national du Québec. * Birthrate is
sometime recorded as April 5. Source: Paule Clouthier by
Marguerite Polnicky in Profiles (Canadian Library (association, 1971) |
Blodwen Davies
3665 |
Born May 18, 1897, Montreal, Quebec. Died September 10, 1966,
Cedar Grove, Ontario. Blodwen was educated in a convent in Longueuil,
Quebec. After her graduation she worked as a reporter in Fort William (now
Thunder Bay). By 1921 she was living in Toronto writing about the famous
Group of Seven artists. She would become the biographer of Tom Thompson
(1887-1917 a member of the Group of Seven. She fell in love with the
married Dr. Frederick Banting (1891-1941) who refused to marry her even
after becoming a widower. In 1925 and again in 1934 she visited England. In
1930 she published Paddle and Palette. She would continue to earn her living
as a freelance writer and historical researcher and penned an number of
books for children. She is known for her many books of travel and history
which showed off picturesque Quebec and Ontario locations. She contributed
to numerous periodicals including, The Beacon, the Canadian Forum,
Canadian Magazine, Chatelaine, Maclean's and Saturday Night.
During the Second World War (1939-1945) she became an advocate for
scientific humanism and lived in the U.S.A. but soon returned to live in
Ontario researching Canadian Mennonites contributing articles Mennonite Life
magazine. Source: E C W W online (accessed 2022)
|
Mary
Agnes Scott
Davis |
née
Scott. Born December 12, 1863, Quebec City, Quebec. Died November 19, 1927.
She used two successful pen names as a journalist, Amaryllis and the
Marchioness. She wrote at the turn of the 1900 for Saturday Night Magazine
and she turned "gossip " to pure entertainment and became the toast of the
town of Ottawa newspapers and kept readers clamouring for more "intel". .
She was a social advocate for welfare children and aboriginals with a keen
interest in feminism, all the signs of "the new woman". She married the well
to do William P. Davis an gave up her daily journalism, writing only the
occasional articles for the Women's Historical Society. After the death of
her husband in 1916, she and her two daughters were dependant on family for
support and eventually moved to France for less expensive life style. From
France she contributed a scattering of writings for the Montréal Star. |
Mary Adelaide Dawson - Snider |
Born 1879,
Lambton, County, Ontario. Died September 3, 1932. Mary joined the workforce
at the Toronto Evening Telegram in 1901 as the paper’s 1st female
reporter. She worked as a columnist for the women’s pages as well as serving
as secretary for the editor. In 1904 Mary was one of the 16 women who
travelled by train to cover the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. On the
return train trip the women formed the Canadian Women’s Press Club which
would endure for 100 years. Mary was not credited with a byline for her
reports from the World’s Fair. In 1908 she married reporter and historian
Charles Henry Jeremiah (Jerry) Snider (1897-1971). In 1912, posing as a
nurse and slipping through security lines, Mary reported meeting the ship
Carpathia’ which brought survivors of the fateful Titanic to New York City,
U.S. A. This time she was credited with her own byline! In 1919 she covered
the Winnipeg General Strike and filed copies of her stories to the Telegram
from Minnesota to ensure the arrival uninterrupted by Canadian telegraphers.
During World War l (1914-1918) she was in Charge of women working at a Toronto munitions
Plant. Mary continued writing for the Toronto Telegram until her death.
Sources: Linda Kay. The Sweet Sixteen. (McGill-Queens University
Press, 2012) : Marjory Lang. Women who made the news. McGill Queen’s
University Press, 1999. |
Mazo de la Roche |
née Maisie Louise Roche. Born
January 15, 1897, Newmarket, Ontario. Died July 12, 1961, Toronto, Ontario.
Mazo (pronounced may'zo) adopted the name De la Roche stating that it came
from her French heritage. She wrote her first short story when she was just
nine years old. She studied at the Metropolitan School of Music and while
studying at the Ontario College of Art in 1902 her first published short story
appeared
in Munsey's Magazine. In 1903 she sadly suffered a mental
breakdown and suffered several years of depression abandoning her writing.
Eventually she would go on to write for the Atlantic
Monthly, the Canadian Magazine, and the Women's Home Companion.
After the death of her mother in 1920 her writing career began in earnest.
In 1923 she would publish her first novel, Explorers of the Dawn, followed in 1925 with an one act
play. In 1927 she won a $10,000.00 award for her third novel Jalna. This
novel would be the first of 16 novels about the Whiteoak family and became
one of the most popular series of books in her time. Her rise to success
caused her to have another breakdown in 1928. She and her cousin Caroline
Clement took an extended trip to Europe in 1929. She and Caroline
adopted two British orphans in 1931 but this did not deter her writing and
publishing almost one book a year. In 1935 R K O Radio Pictures based a film
on Jalna. In 1954-55 the
novels were adopted for television by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
In 1957 Ringing the Changes: An Autobiography was published. Her last
book, Morning at Jalna, was published in 1960. Shortly after her
death Caroline carried out Mazo's wishes and burned her personal diaries. There was a renewed interest when the CBC TV produced a Jalna
television
series in 1972. Mazo was the subject of a National Film Board
co-production, The Mystery of Mazo de la Roche in 2012. Her adopted
daughter claims that the relationship of the cousins was totally platonic.
The Jalna series had 92 foreign editions. A small park in Clarkson, Ontario
is named Whiteoakes in honour of the series and so is a local elementary
school Local streets have names such as Mazo Cresent, Jalna Ave.,
Roche Court and Whiteoaks Ave. Her home in Toronto serves as thThe
Zoroastrian Society of Ontario community centre and is a City of Toronto
Heritage Property. London Ontario boasts of a White Oaks subdivision with
streets and character names coming from the book series. Newmarket, Ontario
named a French Imersion public School in her honour in 1990.(2024) |
Dorothy Dearborn |
née Ryder.
Born July 22, 1927, Saint John, New Brunswick. She began writing as a youth
and published a collection of poems in 1950. She is perhaps the 1st
city editor for a newspaper in Canada when she worked at the Saint John
Times Globe. She went on to write and edit for the Saint John’s
Telegraph – Journal and the Evening Times-Globe. She also edited
the King’s County Record and the Saint John Citizen. As a
freelance journalist she has contributed articles to numerous publications
including the Atlantic Advocate and the Financial Post. She served as
the host of a panel TV show called Check and Double Check for C S J H
television. She also has a keen interest in politics which has seen her run
twice for a federal seat in Parliament from Fundy Royal Riding and she also
ran for a seat in the provincial legislature. Although unsuccessful in her
political aspirations she is a successful author having published numerous
books devoted to local ghost stories, murders and UFO experiences. Her works
are both fiction and nonfiction. She also enjoys writing for youth. She has
worked with the Canadian Mental Health Association to establish the 1st
school for mentally challenged in Saint John. Dorothy is married to Fred R.
Dearborn and the couple have 4 adult children with grandchildren who no
doubt will be excited with grandma’s story telling.
Source.
Fairley, Amanda. ‘Dorothy Dearborn’ in the New Brunswick Literary
Encyclopedia. Online (accessed September 2014) |
Florence Amelia Deeks
4186
History Researcher |
Born September 4, 1864, Morrisburg, Canada West
(now Ontario). Died June 17, 1959, Toronto, Ontario. As a young woman in her
early 2-'s Florence traveled Europe and America to study literature and art.
At 30 she entered Victoria College, University of Toronto (U of T). After
university she became a teacher at the Presbyterian Ladies College. In the
early 1900's she joined the Women's Art Association and in 1912 wrote an
historical sketch of the group. She was also recording secretary for the
Toronto Women's Liberal Club. Wishing to write a history of the world which
would highlight the role of women she dove into research. By February 1818
the manuscript of The Web of the World's Romance was finished. She submitted
her manuscript to Macmillan publishers but after a year it was rejected.
When she saw the Outline of History by H. G. Wells she felt it had a strong
similarity to her own research. In 1928 Florence began a plagiarism suit
against H. G. Wells and Macmillan. When her case was dismissed she appealed
to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Ontario where she appeared
on her own behalf. The case was once again dismissed. She then
took her case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London,
England. in the fall of 1932. The case was dismissed Research in 2001
by A. B. McKillop believed that the work was plagiarized. It was generally
felt that Florence had been discriminated against in the courts but in
reality the case was weak and the same results would have happened no matter
who appealed the case. |
Kristen den Hartog |
Born Deep River, Ontario. Her writings have appeared in
numerous journals and anthologies. She has produced two novels up to 2005,
Water Wings (Toronto, 2001) and The Perpetual Ending (Toronto, 2003). She
currently lives in Toronto but frequently returns to her beloved Ottawa
Valley to re-energize. |
Lauraine 'Laurie' Diane Dennett. |
Born September 29, 1946. This writer drew from her own experiences publishing stories of pilgrimages.
She has made walking pilgrimages in France, Spain, Italy and six other countries.
All her walking efforts have raised over 200,000 dollars for medical research.
She has been the Honourary Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.
In 1993 she received the Confederation Medal to honour her achievements. |
Kady MacDonald Denton |
Born
July 22, 1942, Winnipeg Manitoba. Kady is an illustrator and author of books
who took the advice of her first editor who told her to have fun! To this
day she has 'fun' with her profession. She does take her work very seriously
and puts in many hours labouring over each illustration. In 1998 her book, A
Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes won three top awards including the
Governor General's Award. |
Mary diMichele |
SEE - Poets |
Madeleine Dion - Stout
Cree author |
Born Kehewin First Nation, Alberta. Madeleine studied nursing at Edmonton
General Hospital graduating in 1968. She returned to studies at the
University of Lethbridge, Alberta for a Bachelor in Nursing in 1982 as one
of the 1st Indigenous women to graduated nursing at university.
In 1993 she earned her Master’s degree in international affairs at Carleton
University, Ottawa, Ontario. In 1983 she was a special advisor for the
Canadian Minister of Health and Welfare. By 1985 she became directory of the
Indian and Inuit Health Careers Programme. From 1989-1993 she served as
director of the Centre for Aboriginal Education, Research, and Culture,
Carleton University. She has served as president of the Aboriginal Nurses
Association of Canada and was a member of the National Forum on Health and
Vice-Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada board of directors. She
has established her own company, Dion Stout Reflections Inc. and speaks
throughout North American and Europe on Indigenous health, reconciliation
and healing. She has also established herself as a report writer. She has
received the Assiniwkimaik Award from the Aboriginal Nurses Association of
Canada, the University of Lethbridge Distinguished Alumnus Award and the
Centennial Award from the Canadian Nurses Association in 2008. In 2015 she
was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada |
Sandra Ann
Djwa |
Born
April 16, 1939, St. John's, Newfoundland. This writer, biographer and
educator studied at Memorial University in Newfoundland and the University
of British Columbia. Dr. Djwa settled to a position of Professor of English
at Simon Fraser University in 1980. She had published numerous articles,
edited several works, including books of poetry by Canadian poet, E. J.
Pratt and has written several biographies of Canadian authors. She is
currently working on a biography of a Victorian poet, novelist and artist P.
M. Page. |
Penelope Billings Reed Doob |
SEE - Academics & Librarians |
Lily Dougall |
Born April 16, 1858, Montreal, Quebec. Died October 9, 1923. She visited England and in 1900 decided to
make it her permanent residence. However, as a novelist and religious writer
she set the background for 4 of her novels in her home country of Canada.
Her works are carefully structured. She used humor and lively dialog to
describe her unusual plots and twists. |
Ann Douglas |
Ann Douglas is an award-winning
journalist and the author of some 30 books, many of which have been about
baby and child care including: The Mother of All Pregnancy Books,
The Mother of All Toddler Books, The Mother of All Parenting Books.
She also has an interest in Canadian women’s history and has written
Canuck Chicks and Maple Leaf Mamma’s to help others learn more of our
women’s heritage. A parent, educator, lecturer, and mother of four, Ann is
currently serving as the honorary Chair of the National Healthy Mothers
Healthy Babies 9-Month Club and as a member of the expert advisory group for
Invest in Kids. She recently served as national spokesperson for Sunlight's
National Play Day Program and has been featured on a Cheerios cereal box as part of
a special "Read the Box" campaign of 2002 and 2005. As past president of the
Periodical Writers Association of Canada (P W A C) and a teacher of writing
courses through Trent University she mentors emerging and established
authors. |
Mary Alice Dawe
Downie |
née Hunter. Born February 12, 1934, Alton, Illinois, U.S.A.
Her Canadian parents moved back to Canada where Mary Alice grew up and
graduated from the University of Toronto. While studying she spent much of
her time at The Varsity newspaper. In 1959 she married and returned to the
U.S.A. to live. It was here that she worked producing films, plays and book
reviews. With her young family of two young daughters she moved to Kingston,
Ontario, Canada where she still resided today. She has written over a dozen
books for young Canadian readers and created the Northern Lights series and
the Kids Canada Series. She has won awards from the Canada Council, the
Ontario Arts Council and Ontario Heritage, the Laidlaw Foundation, and the
Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice" awards for various books. |
Violet Alice
Dryvynsyde |
SEE - Academics - Educators |
Lyne Dubeault |
Born 1984, Cochrane, Ontario. Having been born with cameral
Palsy and living life from a wheel chair has never held Lyne back from doing
what she always wanted to do. It seems Lyne was destined to become a
writer. At an early age she was writing short stories, poems, and essays, In
September 1998 she told her personal story and her first short story to the
local newspaper the Cochrane Times Post. At 18 in 2002 Lyne
moved with her family to Goderich, Ontario. She penned her 1st novel in
2013: A Disabled Heart. Having read many books about disabled people
Lyne found that the writers focused on the negative aspects of disabled life
or about people with disabilities as the result of an accident. Disabilities
from birth were virtually never the focus for writers. Her 1st novel is
about a young woman who has cerebral palsy and her desire to live a life as
herself like others do. Lyne is now working on additional writings. |
Emma Lorne Duff |
Born Meaford, Ontario. Died March 31,
1935. She would become a Kindergarten teacher in Toronto in 1888 and showed
her love of teaching by remaining in the position for some 25 years. During
her retirement from teaching she would write "A Cargo of Stories for
Children" Toronto 1931). |
Margaret Iris Duley |
Born September 27, 1894, St. John's, Newfoundland. Died March 22, 1968, Newfoundland.
In 1911 she
travelled with her family to England to attend a wedding of an aunt. While
there Margaret attended elocution and drama courses at the London Academy of
Music and Dramatic Art. With the on slot of World War 1 she returned to
Canada. During the war she worked with the Women’s Patriotic Association
while her 3 brothers served overseas. During this time she wrote a short
story : Mother Boggan about islander’s war efforts. In the 1920’s she
was a member of the Women’s Franchise League working towards gaining voting
rights for women which were granted in March 1925 to women over 25 years of
age. During World War ll she worked with the Women’s Patriotic League and
the St John’s Ambulance Corp. Later she did public relations work for the
Red Cross writing for newspapers and providing radio interviews. In 1952 she
was in England to cover the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth ll. She completed
4 novels and additional short stories all set in Newfoundland. By 1959
Parkinson’s Disease prevented her from continuing to write. Near the
entrance to the Memorial University Library and at her former home in St.
John’s historic plaques have been erected. In 2007 she was declared a
National Historic Person.
Source: Margaret Iris Duley Backgrounder. Parks Canada online.
(accessed July 2014) |
Dorothy Duncan |
Born East Orange, New Jersey, United
States. Died April 22, 1957. Married to the renowned Canadian author Huh
MacLennan ( married 1936) she was a reputed author on her own. She would
publish some four works including "Bluenose : a portrait of Nova Scotia (New
York, 1942). |
Carol Dunlop
Author, Translator,, Activist &
Photographer |
Born April 2, 1946, Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Died
November 2, 1982, Paris, France. Carol graduated from Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio,
U.S.A. She then studied and graduated from McGill University, Montreal. She married
writer Francois Hebert and the couple had one son. The family lived in
Montreal. In the 1970's Carol became divorced and lived in Paris,
France, where she became the partner of Julio Contazar whom she married in
1981. The couple often traveled to Nicaragua, Chile, and Poland. While in
France she began translating books into English and writing books herself.
She published La Solitude inachevée in 1976. She followed with the novel,
Melanie dans le miroir in 1980.
In 1983 she co-wrote a book with Julio Contazarin
1983 with the translation The Autonauts of the Cosmoroute coming out in
2007. (2022) |
Kristyn Dunnion |
Born August 6, 1969, Kingsville, Ontario. As a child being a novelist was one
of the choice careers that was right up there with being a detective or a
spy. She always loved reading and studied English at McGill University,
Montreal and then went to the University of Guelph for her Master’s degree.
It was while at Guelph that she stated to have an interest in children’s
literature. Moving to Toronto she decided that she did not want to study for
her PhD. She worked and continued taking a variety of courses from tap
dancing to writing books for children. She has published three books for
young readers: Missing Mathew (2003); Mosh Pit (2004) and
Big Big Sky in 2008 all with Red Deer Press. Kristyn also performs
creeptastic art as 'Miss Kitty Galore' and plays bass in the all-female metal
band Heavy Filth.
Source: Profile by Dave Jenkinson. CM Magazine Online (accessed 2007)
; Kristyn Dunnion web site (accessed January 2011) |
Evelyn Durand |
Born 1870, Toronto, Ontario. Died December
5, 1900. She studied for her B.A. at the University of Toronto in 1896. Her
written work Elise Le Beau: a dramatic idyll and lyrics and sonnets was
published in Toronto in 1921 by her sister Laura. |
Charlotte Amelia
Eaton
4066 |
née Collins. Born 1845? Died after January 20,
1934.Charlotte's father was an officer with the British Army and the family
moved with him to various postings including several in India.
Charlotte joined her successful businessman brother in New York, U.S.A. In
1887 she became the second wife of the Canadian painter Charles Wyatt
Eaton (1849-1896) and the couple had two children while living in Montreal,
Quebec. Financially independent as a widow she began writing. She published
a memoir of her husband, Sketch of the Life of Wyatt Eaton. She then
penned a volume of verse, Desire and had several works of poems
published in magazines.. She was acquainted with the famous author Robert
Louis Stevenson and wrote three books of memoirs about him. She then
collaborated with Harriet Bartnett and wrote a roman novel in 1917, The
enchanted Sea-gull. Later in life she retreated to a convent. |
Edith Eaton |
Born 1867. Died April 7, 1914. She studied
for her B.A. at the University of Toronto in 1896. Her written work Elise Le
Beau: a Dramatic Idyll and Lyrics and Sonnets was published in Toronto in
1921 by her sister Laura. |
Edith Maude Eaton
Sui Sin Far |
Born March 15, 1865, Macclesfield, England. Died April 7, 1914, Montreal,
Quebec. Edith was the daughter of a English father and a Chinese mother.
While she could pass a white child she often faced discrimination while
growing up. While she was still a toddler her family returned to England. By
1872 the family was settled in Montreal. Edith and her younger sister
Winnifred (1875-1954) were educated at home. Family finances caused
Edith to go to work to help support the family rather than be in school. At
18 she was a typesetter at the Montreal Star newspaper. She enjoyed
writing and her early poetry and stores were published in the Dominion
Illustrated magazine. n the early 1890's she published unsigned
articles about the local Chinese community in the Montreal Star and
the Daily Witness. She supplemented her writing income by working as
a stenographer and legal secretary when she lived what is now Thunder Bay in
northern Ontario. By the mid 1890's she was publishing under her Chinese pen
name 'Sui Sin Far' in Kingston, Jamaica. She soon relocated to the northwest
coast of America prior to settling in Boston, Massachusetts on the east
coast of America. She asserted her Chinese heritage by writing articles on
lives of Chinese women in English America. This was the era when the United
States government banned Chinese immigration. In 1912 she she published a
collection of her short stories in Mrs. Spring Fragrance. Because of
her Chinese ancestry she has been cited as one of the first Chinese writers
in North America. Her biography was written by Annette White-Parks, Sui
Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton: A Literary Biography was published in 1995
and this was followed with additional studies by Mary Chapman called
Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism and Travel Writing by
Edith Maude Eaton. (2024) |
Winnifred Eaton
Onoto Watanna |
Born August 21, 1875, Montreal, Quebec. Died April 8, 1954, Butte, Montana,
U.S.A.. Winnifred was the 8th child of 14 children of a British silk
merchant and a Chinese mother, Grace, who had lived with missionaries. Both
she and her older sister, Edith (1865-1914) would take to the art of writing. Winnifred was a
writer in many arenas from newspaper articles, magazines and journals, short
stories, successful novels ( some of which became plays and movies)
cookbooks, and movie scripts. She was 14 when she had her first newspaper
article published. At seventeen she left home to wander to Jamaica and New
York City in the U.S.A. Although she was of Chinese she choose a Japanese pen name Onoto
Watanna since Japanese novels were more popular. She married Bernard Babcock
but the marriage was short lived. In 1917 she married Frances (Frank)
Fournier Reeve and moved to settle to a ranch in Calgary, Alberta, for a
couple of years before she once again had wanderlust ending up in Hollywood,
California, U.S.A.
and New York once again. Between 1899 and 1925 she would publish over a
dozen works of fiction. In 1932 she returned to her husband in Calgary to
basically settle. She took an interest and founded the Little Theatre. She
and her sister are often considered the first known writers of Asian descent to be published in America. Her
first novel, Mrs. Nomé of Japan was published in Chicago in 1899 and
was republished in 1999. Her granddaughter Diane Birchall wrote Onoto
Watanna, a biography in 2001. The sisters and their work continue to be
a popular study with several books written about them and their literary
works. (2024) |
May Ebbitt |
SEE - Businesswomen - May Cutler |
Dorothy
Harley Eber |
Born 1925, England. After attending school in Wales, England, Ontario and
Nova Scotia Dorothy graduated from the University of Toronto. In 1968 while
working as a reporter she took her 1st Arctic trip to Cape
Dorset. A second trip resulted in a book with drawings and prints of the
graphic artist Pitseolak Ashoona. She traveled to the far north over and
over conducting interviews of the people resulting in more books and films
and tapes of oral history. Many of her works were published in English and
Inuktitut, the Inuit native language. . Her visits and works have done much
to preserve the history of the Inuit people. One of her interviews in Nova
Scotia provided fodder for her book Genius at Work: Images of Alexander
Graham Bell published in 1982. She was appointed to the Order of Canada on
October 21, 1999. |
Mary Susanne
Edgar |
SEE - Academics & Librarians - Educators |
Matilda Edgar
|
née Ridout. Born September 29, 1844, Toronto, Ontario. Died September 29,
1910, London, England. She was more than likely educated at home. On
September 5, 1865 she married James David Edgar, (1841-1899) a lawyer and
author. The couple would raise 9 children. Much of her early marriage was
spend dedicated to bringing up their large family. When she was in her 40’s
she had her first work published, Ten years of Upper Canada in Peace and
War (Toronto: Briggs, 1890). This work , a compilation of information
from family correspondence was well received. In 1898 with honors bestowed
upon her husband she became Lady Edgar. In 1904 her second book was a
biography of Sir Isaac Brock, the British hero of the war of 1812. She was
also a philanthropist supporting the Infants’ Home in Toronto and the
Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. She was also active in the
Woman’s Art Association of Canada where she served as President in 1899. She
was a life member of the National Council of Women and served as President
in 1909.
Source: D C
B vol. Xlll. Online (accessed March 2014) |
Esi Edugyan
Black author |
Born 1978, Calgary, Alberta. She
studied creative writing at the University of Victoria in British Columbia
and went on to earn a Master's Degree from Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. In 2004 she published her 1st novel The Second
Life of Samuel Tyne which won the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. For a time
she was the Writer-in-residence in Stuttgart, Germany prior to publishing
her 2nd novel Half-Blood Blues. This book won the Walter Scott Award for
Historical Fiction and the Anisfield-Wolf Book award as well as the
prestigious Giller Prize. In 2014 Esi published her 1st non-fiction book,
Dreaming of Elsewhere; Observations on Home. This was followed with her
being Writer-in-residence in 2016 at Athabasca University, Edmonton,
Alberta. In 2018 she third novel Washington Black garnered her a second
Giller Prize. Esi is Esi married Steven Price and the couple have two
children. (2019) |
Sheila Agnes
Egoff |
SEE - Academics & Librarians |
Deborah Ellis |
Born August 7, 1960, Cochrane, Ontario. A self declared loner,
Deborah started writing at 10 or 11 years
old. Her writings have won the Ruth
Swartz Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize, the University of California’s
Middle East Book Award, the Jane Addams Peace Award and the Vicky Metcalf
Award. In 1997 she travelled to Pakistan to interview refugees at an Afghan
refugee camp. Through her books she give western readers a glimpse into the plight of children
in today’s developing countries. As a teen in high school she joined the
peace movement and is also a long time feminist. A philanthropist, she pledged the earnings
from her Breadwinner Trilogy, published around the world in seventeen
languages, more two million dollars, to Street Kids International
and to Women for Women, an organization for Afghan girls in refugee camps in
Pakistan. Book proceeds have also been shared with UNICEF. In 2000 she
published Looking for X which follows a young girl in her day-to-day
life in a poor area of Toronto. The Breadwinner, published in 2001 was made
into a movie in 2017 and book earned the Governor General's
Literary Award. In 2006 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario. In
December 2016 Deborah was named a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2020 she
published 'The Greats with a storyline set in Guyana. |
Sarah Ellis |
Born May 19,1952, Vancouver, British Columbia.
She wrote novels when she was 12 years old! She too time out to go
to school and become a librarian but at 30 found herself on leave from her
job to write books again. By 2001 she had published some 10 books. Pic-Up
Sticks was the 1991 winner of the Governor Genera's Award. Out of the Blue,
1994 won Mr. Christie's Book Award. She loves to write in her little office
in the attic of her house. |
Beatrice 'Bea' Mary Embree
3424 |
Born September 20, 1886, Whitby, Ontario. Died April 29,
1958, Ottawa, Ontario. Bea was a teacher at St. Margaret's in Toronto. She
wrote boarding school stories in 1920's and published The Girls of Miss
Cleveland's. During World War 1 she lectured in French at the Trinity
College, University of Toronto. In 1920 she married widower Major Edward
James Ashton (1879-1965) and became step-mother to three children. The
couple also had two additional children together. During the second world
war she served as chairman of the peace time relief work for the Canadian
Red Cross and went on to served as vice-president of the organization.
Living in Ottawa she was involved with the Ottawa Little Theatre and the
Ottawa Historical Society. Source: CEWW (2021) |
Marion Ruth
Engel |
née
Passmore. Born May 24, 1933, Toronto, Ontario. Died February 16, 1985,
Toronto, Ontario. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Language Studies from McMaster
University, Hamilton, Ontario, in 1955. She then moved to Montreal to earn her Master’s degree
from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. She taught at McGill for a short while and then at
the University of Montana in the U.S.A. In 1960/61 she earned a Rotary
Foundation Scholarship to the Université d’Aix-Marseille, France. In 1962
she married radio producer Howard Engle and the couple raised twins until
the marriage ended in divorce in 1975. Her first novel, No Clouds of Glory,
appeared in 1968. In 1973 she was the first chair of the Writer’s
Union of Canada. In 1976 she won the Governor General’s Award in Literature
for her work, Bear. She served as writer in residence a the University of
Alberta in 1977 and at the University of Toronto from 1980-1982. In 1981she
won the City of Toronto Book Award for Lunatic Villas. In 1982 she was
inducted into the Order of Canada. In 1984 she was the Toronto Y W C A Woman
of Distinction. The Marion Engle Award is presented annually in her honour to
a woman writer in mid-career. She was an avid journal keeper and in 1999 her
journals were published as Marion Engel’s Notebook. Marion Engel Park is
located in Toronto. Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia. Online (accessed February 2014)
|
Gwethalyn
Graham
Erichse -Brown
'Gwethalyn Graham' |
Born January
18, 1913, Toronto, Ontario. Died November 25, 1965, Montreal, Quebec.
Gwethalyn dropped out of college and eloped with John McNaught. Two years
later they were divorced and she settled in Westmount and area of Montreal.
She would marry David Yalden-Thomson but this marriage also ended in
divorce. As an author would use only her first two names.
Her 1945 novel
Earth and High Heaven, was the 1st Canadian novel to
top the American bestseller list.
This same novel would win a Governor Generals Award, would sell for movie
rights (alas it was never to be a movie) and would be translated into
Braille and 18 different languages! She continued to write but always in the
shadow that she could never do as well with another novel. She wrote
articles on immigration, anti-Semitism, and women’s issues. Later in her
career, she successfully turned her talents to writing TV Scripts. Barbara
Meadowcroft wrote the biography, Gwethalyn Graham: a Liberated Woman in
a Conventional Age, in 2008.
(2021) |
Constance May Evans |
Born March 15, 1888, Montreal Quebec. Died
????. Constance studied art and music in London, England, with private
lessons. She enjoyed writing short stories and stories in serial format for
popular magazines. She would, during her career, that stretched from the
early 1930's through to the 1970's, produce some 125 romance novels both
under her own name and the nom de plume of Mairi O'Nair. She was not as
lucky finding a life long romance as some of her book hero were. She never
married although she was engaged three times. One of her suitors was killed, a
second died from old war wounds, and a third died of heart failure. She
eventually adopted three daughters. |
Queenie Fairchild
3440 |
Born 1880. Died 1925. Queenie lived in the U.S.A. for several
years before returning to Canada to settle in Quebec along the St. Lawrence
River. She wrote My French Canadian Neighbours and Other Sketches,
published in 1916,as she learned about the people of the area through her
servants stories. The book was republished in 2018.
Source: Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature, Norah
Story, 1967; A Feminine Gaze: A Canadian Compendium of Non-Fiction Women
Authors...online (accessed 2021) |
Alba Farhoud |
SEE - Writers - Playwrights |
Dorothea 'Dora' Farncomb |
Born May 11, 1863, Bond Head, Ontario. Died August 23, 1938, Toronto,
Ontario. Dora, an Anglican, wrote a weekly religious column
called Hope's Quiet House in the Farmer's Advocate and Home
Magazine from about 1897 through to 1938. . She also contributed a
children's column. She was also know for her poetry, and her short
stories for Children. Her materials were collected and published
in the books, The Vision of His Face, published in 1909, Star-Led
to the Heights, published in 1913, and In the Garden With Him,
published in 1914.She aided the poor and the needy and spent a year in
Boston, Massauchetts, U.S.A. working with orphans.
Source: A Feminine Gaze: A Canadian Compendium of Non-Fiction Women
Authors...online (accessed 2021);CE C W W W online (accessed 2021). |
Claire Martin Faucher |
née Montreuil. Born April 18, 1914, Quebec. Died June 18, 2014,
Quebec.
Using the surname Martin, Claire worked as a secretary and then a host on
CKCV Radio in Québec and Radio Canada in Montréal. In 1945 she married
Roland Faucher and the couple settled in Ottawa where Claire became a full
time writer. In
1958 Claire
won the:
Prix du Cercle du livre de France
for her work Avec ou sans amour. By 1966 she earned the Governor
General’s Award in Literature and the Prix Conecours littéraire du Québec
for Dans un gant de fer. This book also won the
Prix Jean-Hamelin.
In 1967 she became a member of the Royal society of Canada. In 1984 she was
inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada and became a Companion of the
Order of Canada in 2001. In 1999 she won a medal from the
l'Académie des lettres du Québec.
In 2007 she was inducted as an Officer of the National Order of Québec. In
2009 she became a member of the Académie des Grands Québécois followed and
in 2010 she became an Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters. |
Eugenie Fernandes |
Born September 25, 1943, Huntington, New York, U.S.A.
Eugenie began her career as an illustrator by working for a
greeting card company. She illustrated cheap books where she says she
learned to become a better artist. She enjoys illustrating books for young
readers and has also written some of her own books. Some of her titles are :
Waves in the Bathtub ( 1993), Ordinary Amos and the Amazing
Fish (2000). |
Kim Fernandes |
Born September 4, 1969, Huntington, New York, U.S.A. In high school she learned to sculpt and found that
three dimensional art was just how she could best express herself! Kim's
Mom, Eugenie, is an illustrator and author of books for youth. Kim was
encouraged to use her clay illustrations and write books to accompany her
art. She attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and developed skills
that lead her to a career of full time illustrator and part time author. She
stores her fimo ( type of clay) illustrations in pizza boxes! She is a
strong believer of 'visualization" ( seeing the completed work in her mind)
before she begins working. |
Fidelis |
SEE - Agnes Maule Machar |
Charlotte Fielden - Morris
4546 |
née Schrager. Born June 5, 1932,
Toronto, Ontario. Died February 20, 2021, Toronto, Ontario. Charlotte
graduated with her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and the
Royal Conservatory of Theatre Arts,Toronto. In the 1950's she studied
mime with the famous Marcel Marceau in Paris, France. In 1955 she made her
stage debut as an actor in the at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
She appeared on stage in Vancouver at the Dominion Dram Festival in the
early 1960's. She appeared in the C B C Shoestring Theatre and was a
voice actor on the English version of the film Mon Oncle Antoine and
Kamouraska. Charlotte married Morris Fielden and the couple had two
children. She married a second time to William Morris. She wrote for
stage, television, radio and film. She also wrote short stories, articles
and poetry. Her first novel in 1970, Crying as She Ran, was the
beginning of the Weil Trilogy. In 1975 her play, One Crowded Hour won
the the competition Women Write for Theatre sponsored by the Playwrights
Co-op in Toronto. She retired from teaching to begin writing full
time and in 2004 she published the historical novel Palatine Hill.
She went on to produce a collection of short stories in 2006 and in 2007 her
book An Age Without a Name completed her Weil Trilogy. She
followed this with A Fragrance of Thyme which was her first
collection of poetry. In 2010 she published a mystery novel and
followed it the next year with second poetry collection. Seven more books
would follow for a total of 16 published works. Her poetry earned her the
Epstein Award for Creative Writing. from the University of Toronto. She was
a founding member of the Writer's Union of Canada and the Playwrights Guild
of Canada. She co-founded Melanie Theatre in Quebec. Source:
Obituary online Accessed 2024); Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia online
(accessed 2024) |
S. Patricia 'Pat' Filer |
Died 2010, Hamilton, Ontario. A Hamiltonian for 58-years, Pat Filer
committed her life to serving others. A 25-year association with The Girl
Guides of Canada included serving as Hamilton Area District Commissioner and
Deputy Chief Commissioner of Canada. During that time she revised the
national Girl Guide program and oversaw the production of a new guiding
handbook. In 1969 she was awarded the Guides’ highest service award – The
Beaver Medal. Pat was a writer/editor on the Dictionary of Hamilton
Biography, authored Mohawk College’s history and edited the
autobiography of winemaker Andrew Peller. She served as chair of the
Hamilton Gallery of Distinction and was inducted into the Gallery in 2015. |
Mary Agnes
Fitzgibbon |
Born June 18, 1851, Belleville, Canada East (now Ontario). Died May 17, 1915. Some might say that as the grand daughter
of the famous Susanna Moodie (1803-1885) she came by her desire to write naturally. She
wrote thee books including A trip to Manitoba (London 1880) and Historic
Days (Toronto 1898). She had an avid interest in Canadian history and in
1894 she founded the Canadian Women's Historical Society of Toronto. |
Ann
Cuthbert
Fleming |
née Rae. Born 1788, Aberdeen, Scotland. Died March 15, 1860.
Ann married
James Innis Knight July 3, 1810 and later as a young widow married James
Fleming May 8, 1820 in Canada. In 1815 and 1816 she published two books
called Home and a book of poems entitled A year in Canada and
other poems. Once settled in Canada she became a teacher concerned that
the school books being used in her Canadian school house had very little
Canadian content. She developed school books specifically for her young
students. Her works may have been the first books for Canadian children. Her
published works contained views of Canadian scenery and the book The
Prompter was subtitled: Progressive exercises on English Language. She
wanted to provide interesting lessons for her students and continued to
“Canadianize” early textbooks.
Source: D C B Vol. lll pg. 734-35 |
Mary Agnes
Fleming |
née Early. Born
November 15, 1840, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died March 24, 1880,
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. May Agnes was an avid writer even as a school
child at the Saint John Convent of the Sacred Heart. While still in school
she sold her 1st story to the New York Mercury. She enjoyed writing romance and mystery novels
but as was the fashion of the time her novels would appear as serials
(chapter by chapter in newspapers) under the pen name of Cousin May Carleton before being published as
21 full
books. In 1865 she married an engineer, John W. Fleming and the
couple with their four children eventually settled in New York where her 1st
novel Ermine had been published in 1863. Her serials were published in New York and London, England!
She also used the pen name M. A. Earlie. She often paid tribute to her
Canadian heritage by introducing Canadian episodes and characters into her
novels. It is not really known exactly how many stories she wrote as some
were not written by her but were attributed to her by her publisher after
her death because of her popularity.
Source: D C B |
Pearl
Beatrix/Beatrice
Foley |
Born Toronto, Ontario. Died October 12,
1953. While she entered her studies at the University of Toronto she did not
graduate. This however did not stop her determination to write. She would
produce four novels. The third novel was published under the pen name of
Paul de Mar. (2020) |
Isabelle Fortier
Nelly Arcan
|
Born March 5, 1973, Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. Died September 24,
2009, Montreal, Quebec. Known as Nelly Arcan she had spent some time working
as a professional escort sex worker. She drew on this background to produce
her 1st novel Putain in 2001. In 2004 the novel was translated into English
using the title Whore. Nelly would publish three additional novels which
were widely accepted in both her home province of Quebec and in France. Her
fourth novel Paradis, clef en main was entitled Exit in English
editions. Sadly she hung herself and was found dead in her apartment just
having finished her last book. She had been fascinated with beauty, eternal
youth, and death. The library in Lac Mégantic was destroyed in the general
2013 devastation of an city wide derailment and explosion was reestablished
and named La Médiatheque municipale Nelly-Arcan in her honour.
(2020) |
Janice Forsyth |
SEE - Academics & Librarians - Educators |
Edith
Margaret
Fowke |
née Fulton. Born April 30, 1913, Lumsdon, Saskatchewan. Died March 28, 1996,
Toronto, Ontario. Edith attended the University of Saskatchewan. and in 1938 she married Frank
Folk who encouraged her search for folk music. Working for the
Canadian Broadcast Corporation (C B C) she hosed the radio program Folk Song
Time from 1950 through 1963. This folklorist, collector, writer, and teacher
was interested in Canadian folklore. She
would publish some 15 books including Folk Songs of Canada and
More Folk Songs of Canada and released recordings of many of these songs.
She was
a founding member of the Canadian Folk Music Society and editor of
the society's journal. She was also a founder of the famous
Mariposa Folk Festival. She is included in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of
Fame and was inducted into the Order of Canada. A Fellow of the Royal
Society of Canada she was the 2000 recipient of the Folk Alliance
International Lifetime Achievement Award.
(2020) |
Elizabeth
'Eliza' Murdoch
Frame |
Born March 14, 1820, Shubenacadie, Nova
Scotia. Died November 17, 1904, Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Eliza attended J.
S. Thompson's Private School for Ladies, Halifax, Nova Scotia and took early training at Normal School (Teacher's College)
teaching in Nova Scotia. She contributed to the Halifax Herald newspaper,
the Presbyterian Witness, Message and other journals of the day. She was
know to present papers to the Historical Societies of Massachusetts and Nova
Scotia. She enjoyed writing and produced two books:
Descriptive Sketches of Nova Scotia (Halifax, 1864) and The Twilight of
Faith (Boston, 1891). Source: D C B |
Augusta
Charlotte Fraser
4110 |
Born 1849?, Canada West (now Ontario). Died May 31,
1896, Montreal, Quebec. The Fraser family relocated to Quebec in the 1870'ss
but Charlotte's writing show part of her heart remained in Ontario. She was
a member of the American Folk-Lore Society in Montreal and wrote tales of
Highland Scottish culture which abounded during this time. In 1891 she
published; Atma: A Romance which was a combination of poetry and
prose. She is credited with collecting the first
volume of fairy tales in English Canada, A Wonder Web of Stories in 1892.
Along with Margaret Ridley Charleton she produced a second collection,
With Printless Foot: A Holiday Book of Fairy Tales in 1894. Some of her
works also appeared in the Canadian Magazine, Toronto, the Journal
of American Folklore, Champaign, Illinois, U.S.A. and the Montreal
Star newspaper. Source: E C W W (2022) |
Mini / Minni
Aodla Freeman
Inuit author
|
Born 1936, Cape Home Island, James Bay.
Mini studied at Ste. Therese School and became a nurse in Fort George (now Chisasibi) Quebec. Moving to Ottawa in 1957 she began working for the
government as a translator of Inuktitut. In 1978 she published her memoirs:
Live Among the Qallunaat which provides insight into life in Inuit
communities in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The Department of Indian and Northern
Affairs suppressed distribution of the book by hiding copies in the basement
of their offices. The book was republished by the University of Manitoba
Press and finally too off. It was the 1st book in the First
Voices, First Texts series which published lost or underappreciated texts by
indigenous writers. The book has been translated into French, German and
Greenlandic. The book won the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba
Publisher, Manitoba Book Awards in 2016. Mini has also created a play
Survival in the South. This was the 1st drama ever written by an
Inuk and is an authentic attempt to come to aesthetic, as well as emotions
terms with her journey of self-discovery in the Canadian south. In 1994 Mini
and Odette Leroux and Marion E. Jackson wrote Inuit Women Artists: Voices
from Cape Dorset published in Seattle by the University of Washington Press. |
Gayle Friesen |
Born
September 18, 1960, Chilliwack, British Columbia. After high school Gayle
took a year to attend a Bible School in Sweden and to see Europe. Back home
in Canada she worked at a bank to pay off her European trip. She married and
shortly after her 1986 graduation from the University of British Columbia
her first child was born. She now has two children. In 1998 she published
her 1st novel for young adult readers called Janey’s Girl.
The book garnered attention and won the Red Maple Reading Award and the
Canadian Library Associations’ Young Adult Book Award. It has been
translated into several languages. She has written an additional 5 books of
which the Isabel Factor, published in 2005 received the 2007/2008 Stellar
Award from the British Columbia’s Teacher’s Choice Award. Source: Gayle Friesen by Dave Jenkinson. University of Manitoba CM
Magazine online (accessed January 2007) |
Ellen 'Nellie' Fulton |
Born June 15, 1887, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. June
10, 1960, St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.A. Her family had immigrated from
Nova Scotia to the U.S.A. In 1886 she married. The family spent summers in
Nova Scotia. She enjoyed music and was a consert pianist. She wrote pomes
which were published in various publications of the day and were included in
New Harvesting: Contemporary Canadian Poetry from 1819-1938 and Nova Scotia
Book of Verse published in 1949. As a music critic she was a feature
writer for a number of journals. She always considered Nova Scotia as her
second home. Source: E C W W |
Linda Gaboriau |
née
Johnson. Born Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. In 1963 Linda moved to Canada to
study at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec where she earned her B.A. and
Masters in the French Language. She married for a brief time but she kept
her surname as her professional name.
She has worked as a freelance journalist for the
Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (CBC),
Radio Canada
and the
Montreal Gazette,
pursued a career in
Canadian and
Quebec theatre and, in the 2000s, served as the founding director of the
Banff
International Literary Translation Centre. Her translations have won the
Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, the two Governor General’s Awards for
French to English translation and in 2014 the Lambda Literary Award for
Drama. In 2015 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. She married two
additional times to Nick Auf der Maur, with who she had a son and to author
Herve de Fontenay with whom she also had a son.
(2017) |
Mavis
Leslie
Gallant |
née de Trafford Young. Born August 11, 1922. Died February 18, 2014, Paris,
France. As a youngster Mavis told stories to her paper dolls to keep herself
quietly entertained. A 4 years of age she was sent to boarding school. Her
father died when she was 10 and her mother remarried and left for New York
without her daughter who would attend a multitude of different schools. She
settled in her late teens in Montreal. Here she married Johnny Gallant an
Acadian might club entertainer who was soon a soldier in Europe. She was a
working “Girl” at the National Film Board and an reporter at the Montreal
Standard newspaper reluctantly hired to replace the men who were off
fighting the war. She refused to write “girly” columns and was soon a
feature writer for the paper. Her marriage disintegrated after the war and
by 1951 she was submitting stories to the New Yorker and off to Live in
Paris. Her early years in Europe had her living in many short-term
situations in the south of France, Switzerland and Spain, and eventually
settled in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. This was the home of
Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus in the 1950s, and the site of many student
demonstrations in 1968 and during the labour and student strikes about the
job laws in 2006. She chronicled the uprisings, initially for her personal
notebooks, but eventually agreed to let The New Yorker publish them. (They
appeared in
Paris
Notebooks.) She received the Governor’s General Award in 1981
for her work Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories. She would
receive numerous honorary degrees, the Molson Prize from the Canada Council,
the Canada-Australia Literary Prize, a tribute at the International Festival
of Authors at Harbourfront in Toronto, the Blue Metropolis Literary Prize,
the Inaugural Matt Cohen Prize, and the Pen Nabokov Award for career
achievement. In 1981 she was made an officer of the Order of Canada and in
1993 this was upgraded to Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1983-1984 she
returned to Canada as Writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto. She
was preoccupied with the past in her last years as she prepared her
diaries covering the years from 1952 through 1969 for publication. The
diaries are to be published in Toronto and New York in 2015.In her last
decade she was plagued by ill health and poverty. but close friends rallied
to support her ‘valiant spirit, her coruscating wit and her generous
capacity for friendship.’
Source: Sandra Martin. Writer Mavis Gallant dies at age 91, In the Globe
and Mail February 18, 2014 ; The Canadian encyclopedia. Online
(accessed June 2002) |
Mary
Evelyn
Gannon |
Born February
11, 1900, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Died January 3, 1975, Fredericton, New
Brunswick. Mary was a delightful child with a marvellous wit. She loved the
stories her grandparents told and enjoyed even more sharing her own stories
with her students where she taught school. In 1935 Mary began to tell her
stories on C F N B, Fredericton Radio. Her Just Mary and Maggie
Muggins stories soon were available on books for children to enjoy over
and over again. The C B C soon came to call and offer Mary a Toronto position
as head of the C B C Children’s broadcasting. In 1954 her characters made
their TV debut with national exposure. By the time she had retired and moved
back to her beloved Maritimes in 1962 she had written over 30 books and over
4,000 scripts for children’s programs. In 1947 the C B C presented Mary Gannan
with the Beaver Award and in 1951 she was made an honorary member of the
Mark Twain Society.
Source:
Marilyn Brinell, Memories of Mary
Online (accessed November 2012) ; Andrea Bell, “Mary
Gannon”, New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia Online (accessed
November 2012) |
Elspeth Janette 'Elsie' Bell
Gardner
'Janet Jamieson' |
née Bell. Born May 15, 1895, Gateshead-on-Tyne,
England. Died October 21,1994, Markham, Ontario. At one point the family,
which had spent time in the Caribbean, settled in Edinburgh, Scotland.
During World War 1(1914-1918) Elsie met and married Hamor Gardner (1893-1948) in 1918.
After the war the couple immigrated to Canada. The settled first in
Newfoundland and then settled in Toronto, Ontario. The couple had three
children together. In the 1930's she wrote her best known books in what is
referred to as the Maxie series. There were seven adventure novels
for girls. Her daughter and friends would wait to read each page of the
stories as they come out of her mother's typewriter. She was an active
member of the Canadian Women's Press Club and wrote a column called Life
Begins at Forty for the Mail and Empire in Toronto as Janet
Jamieson. The family relocate to Burlington, Ontario and Elsie became the
first woman elected to the Burlington Town Council. In Toronto, after
the death of her husband in 1948 she became a bookkeeper.
Source: Information supplied by daughter of Elsie Gardner.
|
Germaine Gévremont |
SEE - Journalists |
Margaret Louise Gibson |
Born June 4, 1948, Scarborough, Ontario. Died February 25,
2006, Toronto, Ontario. Margaret began writing to express her feelings while in therapy for
mental illness. She would learn she was bipolar. She married Stuart Gibord
in the early 1970's and the couple had one son. After her divorce there was
a long custody battle or their son. In 1994 the story became a made for TV
film, For the Love of Arron. Margaret published her first collection of short
stories in 1976. From this collection the film Outrageous was produced and
it was followed up by the film, Too Outrageous, ten years later. A second
short story from the first publication became the TV drama series: For the
Record directed by the famous Canadian director Claude Jutra (1930-1986). In
1977 her book, The Butterfly Ward won the City of Toronto Book Award. Three
more short story collections followed in 1978, 1993, and 1996. Her first
novel, Opium Dreams, was published in 1997 winning the Books in Canada First
Novel Award. She married a second time to Juris Russell. The novel, The Book of
Margaret and Madness: A Novel Inspired By True Events by Stephen and Guia
Postal is based on Margaret's teen years. (2020) |
Rachna Gilmore |
Born 1953, New Delhi, India. Rachna loved to read. Her favorites books growing
up were Anne of Green Gables and Little Women. In 1967, as a teenager, she
immigrated to London, England with her family. She thought of entering
medicine and earned her BSc with honour from King’s College, London. Finding
that medicine was not really her calling she traveled and in the late 1970’s
she moved to Prince Edward Island where she married. The couple would have 4
daughters. Rachna earned her Bachelor of Education at the University of
Prince Edward Island. She had always thought she would like to write and
was constantly jotting notes in a scribbler but she never got around to
writing anything from her notes. In 1989 she 1st picture book was
accepted by a publisher was entitled: My Mother is Weird. In 1990 the
family relocated to Ottawa, Ontario. In 1991 using the pseudonym Rachna
Mara she published a collection of short stories. In the 1990’s she battled
breast cancer but soon returned to writing. In 1999 she earned the Governor
General’s Award for children’s book: A Screaming Kind of Day. In 2006
she won the I.O.D.E Violet Downey Book Award for The Sower of Tales.
Her book the Trouble with Dilly was a Girl Guide Club pick and Resource
Links Best Fiction (grades 3-8). She plans on writing more books letting her
imagination lead her to more interesting characters.
Rachna's books have been translated into several languages, including
French, German, Danish, Spanish, Catalan, and , Korean She has given
readings, writing workshops, and conference presentations to students,
teachers, and aspiring writer across the country, as well as
internationally.
Source: Dave Jenkinson, ‘Rachna Gilmore’ CM Magazine, 2001. Online.
(accessed May 2014.) (2020) |
Emma Goldman |
SEE - Social Activists |
Alison Ruth Gordon |
SEE - Writers - Journalists |
Elizabeth Goudie
|
née Blake. Born April 20, 1902, Mud Lake, Labrador. Died
June, 10, 1982. Happy Valley, Goose Bay, Labrador. In 1920 Elizabeth married a
trapper Jim Goudie. The couple had nine children. After the death of her
husband Elizabeth began to write out her memories. In 1973 with the editing
of David Zimmerly, an Artic ethnologist with the National Museum of Man (now
Museum of Canadian History), Ottawa, a book, Woman of Labrador
was published. The book encompassed the history of early Labrador settlement
and life. In 1975 a provincial government building was named in her honour.
A song writer, Andy Vine, wrote of her in his song 'Woman of Labrador'. A
one woman play, also entitled 'Woman of Labrador', was written by Sherri
Smith. (2020) |
Dorothy-Jane 'DJ' Goulding |
As a youngster growing up DJ worked helping her mother who was director at the
Toronto Children’s Players. After high school she earned a music degree and
a degree in classical ballet. She attended Toronto Normal School (Teacher’s
College) and started teaching in a regular classroom but soon she round the
larger appeal of the radio classroom. She scripted fairy tale plays and went
on to storytelling. She was soon noticed by CBC Radio and for 9 years from
1948 through 1957 she did Kindergarten of the Air on CBC. It was during this
time that DJ married Bill Needles and the couple had five children. She
began writing her stories and her first book Margaret told the story of a
Irish immigrant girl bringing history alive for young readers. She taught
summer school drama for the Toronto Board of Education and continued to
write and produce for CBC’s school broadcasting division. She has published
songs, books, almost 100 plays, a history of Toronto, an historical novel
and drama guides for teachers. After she retired she moved to her farm in
Dufferin County, Ontario and began working with seniors as well as working
with youth in drama. She also enjoys her online publishing.
Sources: Dorothy-Jane Goulding: Profiles. Canadian Library
Association, 1971 ; Needles Publishing. Biography. Online (accessed
April 2014) |
Gabrielle Gourdeau
3911 |
Born 1952, Quebec City, Quebec. . Died July 5, 2006.
Gabrielle earned a Doctoral degree in French Literature from the University
of Toronto (U of T) She became a lecturer in the Department of
Literature at Lavl University, Quebec for many years. In 1992 she published
a work of literary criticism, Analyse du discours narratif. That same
year she published her first novel, Marie
Chapdelaine ou le Paradis retrouvé which earned
the Prix Robert-Cliche and the Prix littéraires Desjardins. As a journalist
she wrote articles for Quebec newspapers such as La Presse, Le
Devoir, and Le Soleil. In 2002 she published the story Gross
Calise which brought a suit for defamation aganist her from a former
colleague. Gabrielle claimed that the character in the story was not
based entirely on that specific person. The suit my have been the reason for
her leaving Laval University. (2022) |
Barbara Gowdy |
Born June 25, 1950, Windsor,
Ontario. In 1954 the family relocated to Toronto for their father's new job.
Barbara was an avid reader and a regular visitor to the local Bookmobile
when it arrived in her area in Don Mills. Barbara attempted to go to
University but lack of finances and a being discouraged by the long bus ride
to campus she quickly dropped out. She went on to work and become a
certified licensed broker. She eventually settled for being a secretary.
In 1972 she married her high-school sweetheart but the marriage did not last
long. Working for a publishing firm she became an editor and decided she
could probable write as well as some of the authors she was editing. Her
short stories were accepted by some literary magazines. It was at this time
she met and fell in love and married anther editor. She wrote her 1st novel
but it failed as did her marriage. In 1989 she wrote Falling Angels
which would be made into a film of the same name in 2002. In 1992 she
published a collection of short stories one of which became an independent
film. Her book Helpless won the Trillium Book Award from the Ontario
government. and the Marian Engle Award. Not always the winner her
books have been nominated for numerous awards and was a three time finalist
for the Governor General's Award in Literature. In 2006 she was
appointed to the Order of Canada. For the next decade she fought depression
and severe pain and even considered suicide. She turned to writing again and
produced her next best seller Little Sister. In 2012 she won a
John Simon
Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Fellowship for her work. |
E. Maud Graham |
Born 1876. Died 1949. Maud graduated from the University of
Toronto in 1876. During the South African Boer War (1899-1902) the British
Government put out the call for patriotic women to be teachers at
refugee/concentration Camps in South Africa. Maud was one of forty Canadian
women who would travel to teach in South Africa. She sailed to England in
April 1902. Here she and the other teachers met with Prime Minister Arthur
Belfour and other notables such as Lord Baden Powell. Arriving in
South Africa there were 17,000 Boer children in concentration camps waiting
to be to be trained in English language and society. Maud was posted to
Norval's Point encampment. The war officially ended in May 1902 and by
October 1902 the refugee camps were closed and the women teachers were sent
out into the country to set up schools and teach. Maud taught in Fauresmith
and Kroostad. She would return home to Canada in 1904. She had written of
her experiences in South Africa and the articles were published in the
Montreal Daily News. In 1905 she gathered her writings together and
published : A Canadian Girl in South Africa: A Teacher's experience in
the South African War. In 1907 Maud was Principal of a girl's high
school in Quebec City. It seems that Maud's book was not published in great
numbers but in 2015 it was republished with scholar notes as a good example
of Victorian patriotism and first hand account of the 300 teachers from the
Empire who traveled to South Africa. (2020) |
Gwethlyn Graham |
SEE - Gwethlyn Graham Erichse-Brown |
Minerva Gram
4844 |
née Levinson. Born October 15, 1907, New Liskeard, Ontario. Died October 30,
1992, Minerva came to the northern Ontario Porcupine are before the fire of
1911 where her family owned a general store in Pottsville. Behind the store
was a large bunkhouse for the many workers from the Dome mine. In 1987 she
and her sister Uyl Levinson told their experiences growing up in the
Porcupine to local crowds. In
2012 Minerva and Uly were two of the people pictured in the Timmins 100
Faces Mural Commemorating Timmins’ most influential people at the Timmins
Senior Recreation Centre..
Source: Tales from the Porcupine told first hand byKaren Bachmann Timmins
Press, January
10, 2020. Online (accessed 2024);
Minerva Gram (Levinson) Geni, online (accessed 2024) |
Rebecca "Becky" Grambo |
Born February 21, 1963. Rebecca studied to be a geological engineer at the
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 1985. She soon found that her
interest in animals could be the base for a new career. She is now an
experienced photographer of natural history and has created books to share
her love for readers of all ages. She began writing in 1994 and is an
acclaimed and award winning author of 25 books. In 2004 she won the Canadian
Science Writers Association’s Science in Society Award and the Animal
Behavior Society’s Outstanding Children’s Book Award for Lupe: a wolf pup’s
first year. She gets in touch with nature through her gardening and designs
intricate needlework patters based on her nature photographs taken around
the world. Rebecca is married and has opened her home to menagerie of
rescued pets. Check out her web site “Wild Threads”
Sources: Wild Threads on line; Herstory: a Canadian Woman’s Calendar
2012. |
Minnie
Caroline Forsythe
Grant |
née Robinson. Born Toronto, Ontario. Died
November 2, 1923. As the daughter of John Beverly Robinson she was from one
of the big families of Toronto and was married in 1842. She enjoyed writing
and published a book, Scenes in Hawaii in 1888. Later she became interested
in history and turned her writing talents to producing series of articles
for the Canadian magazine entitled Bygone Days which were published
in 1914. |
Inezlie Beryl Gray
3661 |
Born January 1, 1907, Finchley England. Died April 14, 1950,
North Vancouver, British Columbia. When she was just seven years old she and
her family immigrated to Canada and settled in Vancouver, British Columbia.
By the time she was 12 she had drafted a novel. She would go on to publish
22 serial novels and almost 150 short stories published in periodicals
around the world. In Canada her romantic fiction appeared in the Canadian
Author and Bookman, Canadian Magazine, Chatelaine, Maclean's,
and the Vancouver Sun newspaper. After a visit to Australia her works
appeared mainly in the Australian Journal. While some of her work was
to be published as a book it seems only one was published. Hidden Firs was
published posthumously in 1951. Beryl was also known for being a
playwright with her plays being produced in Vancouver.
Source: E C W W online (accessed 2022) |
Joan Green |
SEE - Academics & Librarians - Educators |
Alma Greene
Aboriginal Author
|
Born October 31, 1896, Six Nations Reserve, Brantford,
Ontario. Died December 30, 1983, Six Nations Reserve, Brantford, Ontario.
Alma's Aboriginal name was Gah-Wonh-nos-doh which translates as forbidden
voice. Alma learned to listen to stories of her people at her grandfather's
knee. Sometimes referred to as a Mohawk Princess, she would become a Clan
Mother of the Mohawk, storyteller, healer, and activist for her peoples.
Having long followed the oral tradition of storytelling of her people Alma
would publish the stories of her people in Forbidden Voice: Reflections
of a Mohawk Indian which appeared in 1972 and was republished in 1997.
Originally it took Alma six years to find a publisher before the book was
picked up by a printing house in Great Britain. She also penned Tales of
the Mohawk published in 1975. (2020) |
Phyllis Grosskurth
4122 |
Born March 16,1924, Toronto, Ontario. Died August 2, 2015,
Toronto, Ontario. Phyllis earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of
Toronto and a Master of Arts from the University of Ottawa and a Doctor of
Letters from the University of London, England. She gained an interest in
the Victoria era and . In 1948 she married a Naval Officer, Robert
Grosskurth. With her husband often away on duty she raised their family. In
1960 the family was in London, England and worked on her doctorate in
literature. In 1964 she wrote a biography of John Addington Symonds called
Male Love: a Problem in Greek Ethics and Other Writings, for which she
earned a Governor General's Award. She went on to pen additional
Victorian biographies. By the mid 1960 she had become the first female
professor in the English Department at the U of T. In 1968 Phyllis would
marry writer Mavor Moore (1919-2006) and a third marriage took place in 1986
to Bob Mullan. In 1999 she wrote her own memoir, Elusive Subject: a
Biographer's Life. In 2000 she became an Officer in the Order of Canada.
In 2001 she was part of a group of female professors that challenged the U
of T on wage discrimination which was eventually settled in mediation.
Source: Cabbagetown People, online (accessed 2022)
|
Alexandra
Sandra Gwyn |
SEE - Journalists |
Joan Mary Harland |
SEE - Architects |
Carrie Jenkins
Harris
3685 |
Born July 1857, Horton, Nova Scotia. Died 1903, British
Columbia?. By1881 Carrie was living in Wolfville, Nova scotia and ten years
later she was in Grand Pré. Carrie would publish five novels most of which
were published in Nova Scotia. Most of her stories had a back drop of the
Annapolis Valley where she had grown up. Her first novel appeared in 1891
and was entitled: Mr. Perkins, of Nova Scotia; or, the European
Adventures of a Would-be Aristocrat. This was followed in 1893 by, A
Romantic Romance. It only took a year for the third novel to appear,
Cyril Whyman's Mistake, which was published in Toronto. In 1895 she
published once again in Nova Scotia, Faith and Friends which was
followed in 1896 by the last novel, A Modern Evangeline. By 1901 she
had travelled with her brother Edgar and was in Rossland, British Columbia.
Source: E C W W (accessed 2022) |
Susan Harrison
A. S. A. Harrison |
Born 1938? Died April 14, 2013, Toronto, Ontario. In
the late 1960's in Toronto Susan participated as a performance artist and
collaborator. In 1974 she published Orgasms which was a collection of
interviews with women. She worked in the 1970's and through the 1980's as a
typesetter for the Toronto Sun newspaper and Gandalph Graphics. She
went on to work in editing with C Magazine and as a freelance editor.
She collaborated with other author to produce two books and then showing her
humor she published Zodicat Speaks, on cat astrology. She also
belonged to several community groups in support of animal welfare. Her
first novel had just been published and was receive rave reviews when she
died. The Silent Wife was a psychological thriller which had taken
Susan ten years to write. It was launched in the U.S.A. and The
Netherlands in June of 2013 and published in French in 2014.
Source: 'On the cusp of literacy fame, Toronto author A. S.
A. Harrison slips Away' by Greg Quill, Toronto Star April 16, 2013,
online (accessed 2022) |
Margaret Eleanor Anne Hart |
SEE _ Academics - Librarians. |
Irene Helen Hawkins - Moody |
née Hawkins.
Born November 21, 1879, St. Thomas, Ontario. Died April 4, 1958, West
Vancouver, British Columbia. Irene graduated from Alma College in St. Thomas
and went on to study at the Curry College of Expression in Boston,
Massauchetts, U.S.A. In 1905 she married Dr. William Moody and the couple
settled in Vancouver. She penned a novel for youth readers,
Delphine of the Eighties, and four volumes of poetry. |
Mary Eliza Herbert |
See - Journalists |
Frances Elizabeth
Herring |
née Herring. Born December 23, 1851, King's Lynn, England.
Died November 16, 1916, Westminster, British Columbia. Frances was educated
in Reading, England and would teach there. In 1874 she immigrated to British
Columbia. In December that year she married a cousin, Jonathan J. Herring.
The couple had eight children of whom only four survived to adulthood. The
family settled in Langley, British Columbia. In summer 1875 she earned her
certificate to teach and the following year taught in town. The pair
relocated to New Westminster in 1878 and began their family. She also became
editor of the Home Circle Section of the British Columbia Commonwealth in
1892. It was in this column that her short stories first appeared in print.
The Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto hired Frances as their correspondent
in British Columbia. She would serve president of the Royal Columbian
Hospital Women's Auxiliary and was a member of the National Council of
Women. As a devoted member of her Anglican church she was on the executive
of the Woman's Auxiliary to the Missionary Society and lead Bible studies
for young women. She had the reputation of a strong supporter of women's
rights. From 1900 to 1914 she penned six novels with five of the books
having timelines set in British Columbia. In 1913 she published Nan and
Other Pioneer Women of the West which was a collection of short stories.
Source: D C B (2020) |
Jessie Winnifred Hogg
r 19 |
née Gourlie. Born April 18, 1861, Summerside,
Prince Edward Island. Died February 24, 1915, Sherbrooke, Quebec. On
February 19, 1879Jessie married Robert Hogg. While the couple had five sons
and three daughters. Sadly only three sons would become adults. Jessie was
involved with charitable works with homeless children. She was also a
writer. An early work called Belle Marie, based on a old Micmac tale,
was published in the Prince Edward Island Magazine in July 1899. In 1901 she
began publishing Christmas Chimes which was an annual magazine. She wrote
stories and was editor of the magazine. In 1905 the provincial tourist
association used her works to promote P. E. I. as a destination.
By 1908 she had turned her attention to Wonderland, a concert hall and
cinema in Charlottetown. The name was changed to the People's Theatre in
1910. After the 1910 death of her husband she handed over management
of the theatre to her son William Gregory Hogg. Family accounts show her as
being remarried and establishing a second theatre in Smiths Falls, Ontario.
The marriage and theatre ended in failure and Jessie returned to
Charlottetown to be with her son. She was living with another son when she
died in Sherbrooke. Source D C B (2023) |
Lois
Elsa Hole |
SEE - Politicians & Public Servants |
Mina Hubbard - Ellis |
SEE - Miscellaneous |
Edith Iglauer
r 7 |
Born March 10, 1917. Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.
Died February 13, 2019, Sechelt, British Columbia. She attended the Hathaway
Brown School for Girls and went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts in political
science at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, U.S.A. She continued her
education at the Columbia University School of Journalish, New York City,
U.S.A. She became interested in Eskimo cultutre and traveled north to
learn more for one of her books, Ice Road Truckers. She would appear as
herself in the the History Channel presentation on Ice Road Truckes.
Edith married for a second time to a Canadian fisherman, John Daly, and she
featured him in her book, Fishing with John in 1988. After John's sudden
death she married another Canadian Frank White (died 2018) and the couple
settled on the Canadian west coast. As well as her many books, Edith was
well known for her contributions as a freelance writer to such magazines as
The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, and Geist
magazines. |
Grace Lilian Irwin
r 8 |
Born July 14, 1907, Toronto, Ontario. Died
September 2008. Grace obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Victoria
College, University of Toronto in 1929 and by 1932 she had earned her
Master's Degree. She taught Latin, English and History at Humberside
Collegiate Institute, Toronto from 1931to 1942 before becoming Head of the
Latin and Greek Department from 1942 through 1969. She began publishing
novels in 1952 with her book Least of all Saints. and continued to produce
novels over the next few decades. In 1967 she was awarded a Canada
Centennial of Confederation medal. In 1986 she published the biography Three
Lives in Mine. She was an ordained minister with the Congregational
Christian Church. She also wrote poems and article for various magazines.
She served as president of the Toronto Classical Club, was on the executive
committee of the Ontario Classical Association and served on the Senate of
the University of Toronto in 1952 to 1956. She was a member of the
congressional Christian Churches of America. The Grace Irwin Prize is
Canada's largest literary award for Christian writers.
Source: Canadian Who's Who |
Annie
Linda
Jack
|
née
Hayr. Born January 1, 1839, Northampton, England. Died February 15, 1912,
Chateauguay, Quebec. She was
Canada’s 1st
professional woman garden writer. Annie
moved to Troy, New York, U.S.A. and attended Troy Female Seminary. She
married a Scottish born fruit farmer, Robert Jack (died 1900) and the couple
settled on his farm in Chateauguay, Quebec. Here the couple would raise 11
children. When she moved to Canada, she used her gardening skills to
experiment and make a profit. She developed one acre to horticulture of her
choice and wrote a column in The Rural New Yorker called A Woman's
Acre. She also wrote a column on flowers in the Montreal Daily Witness
and contributed to the Canadian Horticulturalist. Her skills
became known throughout North America. While she wrote and published short
stories and poems, it is her horticultural articles for which she is
remembered. Her book The Canadian Gardener: A pocket Help of the Amateur
was published in 1903 and set the gardening standard for all of pre World
War 1 (1939-1945) Canada. (2020) |
Marja 'Maria' Jacobs
|
née
Schroder. Born 1930, The Netherlands. After World War ll Maria and her
husband Peter Moens immigrated to Canada settling in Toronto. They had five
children. After graduating with her degree in 1975 from York University,
Toronto she studied for her Master’s Degree and began writing poetry. She
founded a poetry reading series called Axle-Tree Coffee House and edited a
number of publications for Poetry Toronto magazine. She also took part time
work magazine a scientific journal a position she held for 18 years. And
Marie would continue on after Heather retired in 2000.In 1983 along with
Heather Cadsby founded Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd. hoping to publish
works by women poets. They encouraged women poets, they published works by
women and ran an all women business. In 1984 she joined the League of
Canadian Poets and became part of the feminist caucus. In 1990 she was
president of the League.
(2017) |
Anna Brownell Jameson |
née Murphy. Born Dublin, Ireland 1794. Died March 17, 1860. At four years of
age her family migrated to England and settled in London. At 16 she was
working as a governess and in 1821 she became engaged to lawyer Robert
Jameson. However, the engagement was broken off and Anna went to Italy as a
companion to a young student. She wrote a book hoping to earn enough money
to purchase a guitar. The book was well received but the Diary of an
Ennuyee, published in 1826, became somewhat scandalous when her identity
was discovered. She later decided to marry Robert Jameson but in 1829 she
left for a position in Dominica and never sent for her to be with him. That
year she wrote the Loves of the Poets. In 1832 she published Characteristics
of a woman which analyzed heroines of Shakespeare. Her Husband
summoned her to Canada in 1836 who now resided in Upper Canada (now
Ontario). After landing in New York, U.S.A. she had to find her won way to
Toronto in the middle of winter. She penned a travelogue of her journey,
Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada published in 1838. She also
traveled into Indian settlements while in Canada and explored the
settlements along Lake Huron. A well
known author by the time she came to Canada to join her husband she
chronicled her 8 month stay in her book “Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada” published in 1838.
She returned to England in 1838 where she continued to be a successful
writer and researcher.
(2019) |
Cecilia Viets Jamison
4107 |
née Dakin. Born January 1, 1837, Yarmouth,
Nova Scotia. Died April 12, 1909, Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S.A. When in her
midteens Cecilia's family relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. She
studied in private schools in Canada, New York, Boston and Paris, France.
She married in 1863 to George Hamilton and the couple settled in Rome, Italy
for three years to study portrait painting. She published her first book
Woven of Many Treads in 1871. Returning to the United States she
opened a studio and continued to publish more novels, short stories
and articles for popular magazines of the day. In 1878 she married Samuel
Jamison (1848-1902) and the couple settled near New Orleans, Louisiana,
U.S.A. Her written works for children were sold across the country. After
the death of her husband she returned to live the Boston area.
Source E C W W (2022) |
Nina Jamieson |
née Moore. Born Dundas, Ontario. Died
November 6,1932. As a career journalist she contributed occasional papers on
rural life to the Toronto Mail and Empire. She also wrote three books;
The Hickory stick: a romance of the school in the cedars (Toronto, 1921)
; The cattle in the stall; sketches and poems (Toronto, 1932) |
Annie Jansen 4178 |
Born March 13, 1930, Pincher Creek, Alberta. Died December
14, 2021, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Annie was not famous in any sense of the word
but she was generous without fault, caring of all of nature and comfortable
faithful. She says she was that last child, the unwanted pregnancy. She left
high school after grade nine to care for her ill mother. At 16 she was
baptised at the Springridge Mennonite Church. She loved the simple life and
the simple things of life. She worked as a cook at the Canadian Mennonite
Bible College from 1959 though 1984 (now the Canadian Mennonite University).
She owned no TV and no cell phone. She was always ready to help others and
all were welcome at her table to share at any time. In 2021 she produced a
book In Gratitude which contained recipes, home remedies and
reflections. (2022) |
Amelia Clotilda Jennings |
Born 1830? Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died 1895? Montreal, Quebec. Amelia grew up in
Halifax. In 1854 she published Linden Rhymes named after her
childhood home. S wrote Letters from Linden HILL as a serial in the Halifax
Monthly Magazine from 1852-1853. She penned a poetic series on Nova
Scotia wildflowers published in The Provincial. Her poem Autumn
in Nova Scotia won a prize at the Nova Scotia Industrial Exhibition in
1854. About 1875 she lived in Montreal for ten years. The 1883 she is
credited with a volume of verse North Mountair by ‘Mileta’. It is also
thought that she used the pen names Maude. She published her poem Sable
Island in the Dominion Illustrated in June 1889 and continued a
column for some years in this publication. She is a good example of a host
of Canadian writers of her era. |
Alix John |
SEE- Alice Jones |
Elizabeth Johnston 4237 |
née Lichtenstein. Born May 28, 1764, Little Ogeechee, Georgia, U.S.A. Died
September 24, 1848, Halifax, Nova Scotia. After the death of her mother Elizabeth was brought up by her great aunt in Georgia. In 1779 Elizabeth married
William Martin Johnston, a captain while her father was involved in loyalist
activities during the American Revolution. In 1779 Elizabeth married William
Martin Johnston (1754-1806), a captain in the New York Volunteers. The
couple had at least three children. When Charleston, South Carolina was
evacuated by the British in December of 1782 Elizabeth and her children went
to St. Augustine, Florida. In 1784 the family was in Spain and then sailed
to Scotland for William to complete his medical studies. The settled
the were in Kingston, Jamaica, by 1786 until 1810 when the family finally
settled in Nova Scotia. In 1836 she wrote her memoirs mainly for her
grandchildren. Recollections of a Georgia Loyalist showed first hand
experience of an important colonial family. Elizabeth's children married
into some of the most prominent families in Nova Scotia.
Source: D C B (2023) |
Julie Johnston |
Born 1941. Julie grew up in Smiths Falls, Ontario. Even as a teen she loved
to write stories. She attended the University of Toronto to earn her BA.
Hero of Lesser Causes was her 1st published novel for young
readers. It earned the Governor General’s Award for English Language
Children’s Literature. In 1993 she earned the I O D E Violet Downey Book Award.
Julie is married with four daughters. In 1994 she published Adam and Eve
and Pinch-me which won the Governor General’s Award for English Language
Children’s Literature, the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Book
Award in 1995 and the Ruth Schwartz Children’s Book Award in 1995. In 2003
she earned the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature recognizing her
contribution to Canadian Children’s Literature. In 2005 she published As
If By Accident her 1st book for adults.(2017) |
Mabel Annesley
Johnston |
née Sullivan. Born 1870, Toronto, Ontario. Died
April 1, 1945. As a writer she often used the pen name of Susanne or Suzanne
Marny. She is credited with two books: The Canadian Book of Months
(Toronto, 1908) and Tales of Old Toronto (Toronto, 1909) |
Gillian Johnson-Shakespeare |
née Johnson. Born February 26, 1963, Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a young girl
growing up Canadian winters were a way of life and she started at 6 to
compete in speed skating. She would win 12 national speed skating titles and
would represent Canada on the national team that trained in Germany. While
she always liked to write and sketch her 1st year at the
University of Manitoba was spent in labs for chemistry, physics and biology.
However she soon found English courses easier and much more fun. After the
death of her father she cared for her mother. After her mother’s death she
relocated to Toronto where she met author Nicholas Shakespeare a writer on
tour. In 1999 the couple married and settled in Tasmania with some time
spent each year in Oxford, England. The couple have two sons. Gillian writes
and illustrates her own books for children . Some 30 titles had been
published and translated into 10 different languages by 2014. She has also
illustrated works by author colleagues including noted children’s poet
Dennis Lee.
Source: Gillian Johnson by Dave Jenkinson in CM Magazine,
University of Manitoba Online (accessed January 2007) |
Alice Jones |
Born August 26, 1853, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died February 27, 1933,
Menton, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France.. This
author developed the “new woman” theme in her novels.
She also wrote shot stories and travel articles for magazines.
She used the pen name of 'Alix John' for one of her novels.
In 1903 she was described as one of Canada’s leading women novelists.
Her works included : The Night Hawk (Toronto & New York 1901);
Bubbles we buy (Toronto, 1903) Gabriel Praed's Castle
(Boston, 1904) ; Marcus Holbrach's Daughter (New York, 1912) and
Flame of Frost (1918). She served as chatelaine for her father, Alfred
Gilpin Jones (1824-1906), during his term as the Lieutenant Governor of Nova
Scotia. After her father's term of office she moved to live in France.
Source: ECWW
(2020) |
Elizabeth 'Eliza' Field
Jones
|
née
Field. Born June 1, 1804, Lambeth (now London) England. Died August 17, 1890,
Brantford, Ontario. In 1820, after the death of her mother Eliza left
boarding school to care for her younger siblings. In 1831 she met a handsome
Ojibwa gentlemen who was touring England to raise funding for Ojibwa
missionary work in Canada. Eliza married her handsome Peter Jones (died
1856) on September 8, 1833 in New York City, U.S.A. The couple settled on
the Credit River Indian Reserve Upper Canada. They would have four sons who
survived infancy. From In 1838 Eliza published the story of the death of her
niece: Memoir of Elizabeth Jones, a Little Indian Girl. 1841-1849 they
served at the Muncey Mission near London, Canada West. Eliza was given the
Ojibwa name Kecheahgahmequa which meant lady from beyond the blue waters. In
1854 she won awards for her works in miniature and watercolour painting at
the Canada Provincial Exhibition. After Peter’s Death she married John
Carey, a farmer from New York State, U.S.A. but the marriage only lasted a
couple of years. In 1860 she published Ojibwa: life and journals and
the following year published History of the Ojebway Indians. She also
did a sketch of Chief Joseph Brant which was featured in the New Dominion
Monthly in 1872. Eliza taught painting until she became blind in 1880. |
Sonia Harrison
Jones |
Born February 13 1938, London, England. Sonia attended University of Madrid,
Spain from 1958-59 and then the Sorbonne, in France in 1959-1960. She earned
her BA from Bennington College in 1961 and went to the University of
California, Berkley, U.S.A. for her Masters Degree in 1963. From there she
attended Harvard University where she earned he PhD in 1971. She married
Gordon Jones on May 28, 1970 and the couple had two children. She had been a
teaching Assistance and instructor in Berkeley d a teaching fellow at
Harvard. She has also been an instructor at Turfs University and in
1972-1973 she was an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University, Halifax,
Nova Scotia. From has also worked at Acadia University. She is a co-founder
and co-owner with her husband of Peninsula Farm Ltd manufacturing yogurt and
other dairy products. She has served on the executive Council for
International Business Studies at Dalhousie University and has been Chair of
the Executive Council Cultural Activities from 1976-1982. In 1987 she earned
a Certificate of Merit for Business Excellence and the following year she
earned Successors Award for Entrepreneurship from Canadian Business
Magazine. She has written Spanish language textbooks and the book It All
began with Daisy which was condensed by Reader’s Digest and
translated into 15 languages.
(2017) |
Agnes Bell
Joynes |
Born June 21, 1879, Collina, New Brunswick. Died April 17,
1972, Saint John, New Brunswick. Like so many of her generation Agnes
graduated from Normal School (teacher's college). She would also take
studies in nursing in Worcester, Massacheutts, U.S.A. She remained in
Worcester working a a nurse for several years prior to returning to New
Brunswick where she worked with the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) and the
Red Cross. Relocating to Toronto, Ontario, she worked at the Royal Ontario
Museum and took studies in literature. She wrote and illustrated articles
for a variety of magazines including the American Journal of Nursing,
Canadian Geographic Journal, the Canadian Nurse, and Women's World. .
Using the pen name Ottawa Correspondent she wrote columns in the Saint
John Standard. In 1926 she published one volume of poetry, The
Shepherd of the Hills. Her book, Treasure Seeking in the Store Rooms
of the Past, published in 1931, included her own illustrations. Articles
on experiences of a student nurse appeared in The Public Health Journal.
Agnes was also an inventor and in 1924 she held a paten for a collapsible
ironing board. In 1958 she retired back to New Brunswick.
Source: ECWW (2020) |
Susan Juby |
Born March
30, 1969, Ponka, Alberta. She would attend fashion design school in Toronto,
Ontario but somehow it did not work out for her. Instead she began a degree
in English literature at the University of Toronto but returned west to the
University of British Columbia to complete the degree. She took a job as an
editor at a self help book publishing company and continued her formal
education with a Masters degree in publishing. When she began writing she
would write on the bus and she migrated to a coffee ship. Her 1st
novel Alice I think appeared in 2000. She has also produced a series
of books about a teen girl who does not quite fit into her world, the Alice
MacLeod series. The books have become the basis for television series. She
also teaches creative writing at the Vancouver Island University and at the
University of British Columbia.
Source: Susan
Juby by Dave Jenkinson CM magazine online (accessed January 2007).
|
Rukhana 'Roxy' Kahn |
Born March 13, 1962, Lahore, Pakistan.
Rejection of her first storybook by publishers encouraged Rukhana to put
away her writing. She got married and started a family leaving her writing
alone. Coming across her old rejection slips she found that publishers had
actually been encouraging her and made suggestions to improve her writing.
She decided to give it a try again. A local librarian encouraged her to
learn more about writing from the Canadian Children's book Centre. By the
end of 2000 she had penned some five books including an in depth novel. Not
a bad accomplishment for someone who thought she could not become a writer
because of her ethnic background! |
An Antane Kapesh |
SEE - Anne-Marie André |
Welwyn Wilton
Katz |
Born June 7, 1948. Welwyn is married to journalist Doug Bale and the couple
has one daughter. In 1987 she earned an International Children’s Fiction
Contest for her novel for youth called False Face and the Third
Magic won the Governor General’s Award for English Language youth
literature. In 1994 she earned the Vicky Metcalf Award for her publication
for young readers, Wichery Hill.
(2017) |
Linda Kay |
Born December 3, 1951, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Died October 12, 2018,
Montreal, Quebec. Linda would earn her journalism degree from Syracuse
University, New York, U.S.A. .Died October 12, 2018, Montreal, Quebec. Linda
was a reporter, sports writer and columnist for more that two decades in the
U.S.A. She began her career at the Paterson News in New Jersey, U.S.A. In
1979 she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for a story covering a
airplane crash. She went on to become the 1st woman sports reporter for the
Chicago Tribune. She fell in love with Montreal and settled there in
the 1980's. In 1990 she was teaching at Concordia University and became a
full professor in 2014. In 2007 she earned the Dean's Award for Teaching
Excellence in the Faculty of Arts and Science. She served as Chair of
Concordia University Department of Journalism where she taught and
encourages two decades of Canadian journalists. She was also a columnist
for the Montreal Gazette and her writing also appeared in the
Globe and Mail, the London Free Press, and various Canadian magazines
including Chatelaine and Newsweek. She discovered and wrote
about the founding of the Canadian Womens Press Club on a trip from the St
Louis World's Fair in her 2012 book: Sweet Sixteen: The Journey that
Inspired the Canadian Women's Press Club which was published in French
in 2016 as, Elles etaient seize: Les premières femmes journalistes au
Canada. in 2013 she was the Woman of Distinction in Communications from
the Montreal Y W C A. Linda was divorced from husband Bernard Rivest. The
couple had one daughter. |
Marion Keith |
SEE - Mary Esther MacGregor |
Katherine Kent |
SEE
- Jean Blewett
|
Dayal
Kaur
Khalsa
|
née
Marcia Schonfeld. Born April 17, 1943, Queen’s, New York, U.S.A. Died July
1989, Vancouver, British Columbia. Dayal attended the Arts Students League
1964-1965 and graduated from City College of New York. In 1970 she moved to
Canada with her partner Brian Grison and stayed in Canada when their
relationship ended. In 1974 she settled in Millbrook, Ontario to live on a
farm. The following year she was in Toronto and joined a women’s health
collective. In time she adopted the Sikh lifestyle and received her new name
meaning princess of kindness and purity. She began promoting the Ashram she
lived in which led to interest with a graphic design studio. In the 1980’s
she relocated to Montreal, Quebec. In 1982 she brought illustrations to show
Tundra Books who liked the strong colour sense. She first worked on board
books for babies and this was followed by books for older children. In 1986
she made the New York Times Notable Children’s Book list and New York Public
Library Award for Best Children’s Book for Tales of a Gambling Grandma. The
following year she was awarded the Canada Council Children’s Literature
Prize Honourable Mention for Illustration and was a finalist for the Amelia
Frances Howard Gibbon Illustrator’s Award. In 1988 she won the Governor
General’s Award for Book Illustration for Sleepers. This book also wan the
Parent’s Choice Award for Illustration in 1988. |
Valerie
'Val' Jean
Knowles |
Born August 2, 1934, Montreal, Quebec. Val completed degrees from
Smith College, Northampton, Massacheutts, U.S.A., McGill University, Montreal, and Carleton University,
Ottawa. This former history teacher and, now free lance writer, has been
successful in writing for newspapers, magazines, and federal government
departments. She has authored some a dozen books. She uses
her historical studies and archives background to develop
her contribution to historical writings of Canada. Her book, Strangers at
Our Gates, 2nd edition (1997) provided the only writing to
give a complete overview of the history of Canadian immigration. She
has established herself as a biographer of note with her book, Cairine
Wilson, Canada's First Woman in the Senate was published in 1988, The award winning
book Telegrapher to Titan the life of William C. Van Horne was published
in 2004 and
a collection of profiles of famous and obscure figures of Ottawa have
appeared in three volumes called
Capital Lives. She has also written a history of the Zonta Club of
Ottawa. Val and her husband Dave live in Ottawa. (2020) |
Joy
Nozomi Kogawa |
Born
June 6, 1935, Vancouver,
British Columbia. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in 1941 the Canadian
government placed 1st general in internment camps. Joy's family was sent to Slocan, British Columbia. After World War ll the family settled in Coaldale,
Alberta. Joy graduated from the University of Alberta, the Anglican Women's
Training College, and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario. Back
in Vancouver she married David Kogawa in 1957. The couple divorced in 1968
and Joy attended the University of Saskatchewan before moving to Toronto in
1979. In 1973 this busy single mother
of two worked as a writer in the Prime Minister's Office. Her 1st book of
poetry was published in 1968. In 1981 she published, Obasan
and won The First Novel Award. This book would later be adapted as a 45
minute opera which toured elementary schools in British Columbia. In
1982 she won the the Bork of the Year Award and an American Book
Award. Her 1st children's book Naomi's Road appeared in 1985. She is
known for her novels, children's books, poetry and essays, which have been
published in Canada and in Japan. She is also an activist who was
instrumental in influencing the Canadian government in their settlement with
Japanese Canadians for loss of liberty and property in Canada during World
War ll. In 1986 she became a member of the Order of Canada. November 5, 2005
the City of Vancouver declared Obasan Cherry Tree Day and planted a graft of
the Cherry tree from the Kogawa home at the city hall. The Kogawa house was
saved from demolition and has been renovated to its 1940 appearance. In 2006 she
was inducted into the Order of British Columbia where she lives some of the
time. In 2010 she was honored with the Order of the Rising Sun by Japan for
her contribution to the understanding and preservation of Japanese Canadian
history. In 2012-13 she was Writer in Residence at the University of
Toronto. |
Myrna Kostash |
Born September 2, 1944, Edmonton,
Alberta. Myrna graduated from the University of Alberta, Edmonton and went
on to study at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. and
the University of Toronto. Myrna published her 1st book, All of Baba'
Children in 1977. In 1985 she earned a Silver Citation in the National
Magazine Awards. In 1988, her book, No Kidding: Inside the World of
Teenage Girls, received the Alberta Culture and Writers' Guild of
Alberta prizes for Best Non-Fiction. That same year she received the Alberta
Achievement Award. She won the award again in 1994 for her book
Bloodline: A journey into Eastern Europe which was one of the ten best
books of the year according to Maclean's magazine. She is a
founding member of the Periodical Writer's Association of Canada and the
Writers' Guild of Alberta where she has served as President in 1989-1990. In
2002 she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Jubilee Aware which was
followed in 2005 with an Alberta Centennial Medal. In 2006, Reading
the River: A Traveller’s Companion to the North Saskatchewan was a prize
winner at the
Saskatchewan Book
Awards. In 2006 she earned the
Golden Pen Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers' Guild of Alberta.
She is also a founding member of the Creative Nonfiction Collective
serving as President from 2006 through 2009. In 2006, Reading the River:
A Traveler's Companion to the North Saskatchewan was a prize winner at the
Saskatchewan Book
Awards. By 2016 she had published 11
books in all. She has also written numerous contributions for books, for
film, stage, and radio. Myrna has bee Writer-in-Residence in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario and the Whyte Museum in
Banff. Alberta.(2019) |
Margaret
'Polly' Wade
Labarge |
SEE - Academics - Historians |
Evelyn Lau |
SEE - Poets |
Louise de Kiriline Lawrence |
SEE - Medical -Nurses |
Margaret Laurence |
née Wemys. Born
July 18, 1926, Neepawa, Manitoba. Died January 5, 1987 Selwyn,
Ontario. From age seven she wrote stories.
Her gift of writing leaves a permanent mark on contemporary Canadian
Literature. Her 1st writing job was as a reporter and book reviewer
for the Winnipeg Citizen. She wrote with the experience
of having lived in England, Somalilanc, Ghana, Greece, Crete, Palestine,
India, Egypt and Spain but Canada was always home.
She is much beloved and remembered for her works, her personal
warmth, strength and humor which she shared so generously.
In 1972 she became a Companion of the Order of Canada. She won two
Governor General's Awards for her novels, The Diviners in
1974 and A Jest of God in 1996. An annual lecture
series has been named in her honour by the Writer's Trust of Canada.
The University of Winnipeg and York University, Toronto, have named
buildings in her honour. In 2016 she was named a National Historic
Person. |
Agnes Christina
Laut |
Born February 11, 1871, Stanley Township, Huron, Ontario.
Died November 15, 1936, Wassaic, New York, U.S.A. When Agnes was just
two the family relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba. By 15, too young to be
granted a teaching certificate, she was working as a substitute
teacher in a prairie school. Ill health would force her to withdraw from
studies at the University of Manitoba. Agnes turned to writing with her
works being published in the Manitoba Free Press and the New York
Evening Post. From 1885 for two years she worked as an editor for the
Manitoba Free Press. In 1900 she published her 1st novel, Lords of the
North. By 1901 she was living in Wassaic, New York but would often visit
Canada in the summers. She produced articles for Saturday Night on
labour and racial issues in British Columbia. In 1919 she traveled to
Mexico with the Childhood Conservation League. She continued to write
books that here biographies and histories on early North America.
Source: C E W W (2020) |
Mary Jane Lawson |
née Katzmann Born Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
1828. Died 1890. She married William Lawson shortly before her death.
Perhaps it was his dedication that got her books published posthumously.
There was a book of poetry published in 1893 and The History of the
Townships of Dartmouth, Preston and Lawrencetown, Halifax Country, Nova
Scotia (Halifax, 1893) |
Julie Lawson |
Born 1947, Victoria, British Columbia. Julie trained as a teacher at the
University of Victoria . After she graduated she spent a year in France and
traveling Europe. Back home again she taught at elementary school in British
Columbia. It was not until she was forty that she decided to take writing
seriously. In 1990 she published The Sand Sifter. Many of her works
have historical backdrops. No Safe Harbour takes place during the
great Halifax explosion of 1917. This book won the Hackmatack Award and is
one of 5 books she has written for the Dear Canada series. In 2016 her novel
Whit Jade Tiger, inspired by a trip to China, won the Sheila A. Egoff
Children’s Prize.
(2018) |
Isabel LeBourdais 3922 |
née Russell. Born April 15, 1909, Toronto, Ontario. Died
January 1, 2003. At one point Isabel changed her name to Erichsen-Brown. Isabel entered the University of Toronto
(U ofT) but left in 1929 to marry Lt.
Stephen Holmes Dale. The marriage ended four years later. She joined
the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C. C. F.) and became a social
activist. In 1942 she married politician and non-fiction writer Donat Marc
LeBourdais (1887-1964) and the couple had four children. She worked as a
journalist and continued being an activist. In 1966 Isabel published the
book: The Trial of Steven Truscott, who had been wrongfully convicted
of murder. The Ontario Court of Appeal in 2007 overturned Truscott's
conviction calling it a miscarriage of justice. After publishing her book
she became a public relations officer for the Registered Nurses Association
of Ontario. (2022) |
Ranee Lee
Black Jazz Singer, Author, & Educator
|
SEE - Entertainers - Jazz singers |
Anna
Harriette/Harriet Emma
Leonowens |
SEE - Academics - Educators |
Mary Leslie |
Born June 11, 1842, Leslie's Corners, Upper Canada (Ontario). Died March 1, 1920,
Toronto, Ontario. Like many of the well to do pre-Confederation families in Canada,
she was educated at home before her family sent her to
Europe to tour. She traveled with her mother as her chaperone While she was in Holland she continued her studies
in art. Returning home to Guelph, Ontario she taught art and began
writing. Her writings that would be her legacy. She
would publish three books including The Cromaboo Mail
Carrier in 1878 under the name of James Thomas Jones. This book was
banned in nearby Erin, Ontario because its outspokenness offended some
of the local citizens. She would also use the pen name J. T. J.
The following year David Jones's Locker appeared in serial form
in the Clifford Arrow which also published in 1881, Absolutely Her
Own Mistress. She had hoped the Ontario Department of Education
would use her two volumes of poetry but this did not happen. She also penned
The Kings and Queens of England in 1896 and Historical Sketches of
Scotland in 1905. Book sales were not that successful either and she
lost her house and moved to Rockwood to live with her sister. After her
sisters death she moved to Fergus, Ontario and wintered in Toronto. She
died in poverty. |
Loris Lesynski |
Born Eskilstuna, Sweden. Loris immigrated to Canada with
her family as a child. She kept notes in journals which she illustrated on
every topic. She loved to write and draw she even wrote poetry. After a
formal university education proved be be not what she wanted she took a job
at a printing company and was exposed properly to graphic arts. She is
totally self-taught as an illustrator and has worked as a freelance
designer. She continued her writing as she had always loved it. It was only
after attending a story makers conference in 1991 that she gained confidence
to do something with her scribbling. She formed a relationship with Annick
Publishing and has not looked back. “Nothing beats a Pizza was a Mr.
Christie’s Award honour book. Her works include Boy Soup, Catmagic,
Night school and many more. Check out your Public Library for more of her
books.
Source: Loris Lesynski by Dave Jenkinson CM Magazine
|
Shar Levine
Children's science author |
Born 1953, Edmonton, Alberta.
Shar graduated from the University of Alberta. She began graduated studies
but would you believe she hated writing and did not complete her thesis! She
began her working career working first for the City of Calgary and then
worked for a major trade union in British Columbia. Not liking her job she
quite and became an entrepreneur opening a toy store, Einstein's the
Science Centre, Ltd. in 1887. The store won an international award from
Playthings Magazine for store design. She told a book representative that
she could do better than most of the books on the market. She never looked
back. Shar is known as the Science Lady when she does presentations at
schools and writer's festivals or library conventions. She was also the
author of a column Business in Vancouver which worked into a local TV
segment. In 1993 she earned the Our Choice Award from the Canadian
Children's Book Centre and the next year she earned the National Parenting
Publication Award. !995, 1997, 1998, & 2001 saw more Our Choice Awards. In
2006 she and her co-author Leslie Johnstone were recipients of the Eve Savory Award for Science Communications from the British Columbia Innovation
Award for the book Backyard Science. In 2011 , 2012, 2013, 2014
the Canadian Children's Book Centre gave her Best Book Awards. In 2014 she
was the winner of Science in Society Youth Book Award. In 2015 the
University of Alberta presented her with the Alumni of Honour Award. In 2016
she was inducted into the Order of Canada for her over 70 children's books
encouraging science studies for children. (2019) |
Nellie Margaret Lewis |
SEE - Academics - Educators |
Norma Eloise West Linder |
Born 1928, Toronto,
Ontario. Norma would spend her childhood on Manitoulin Island, and teenage
years in Muskoka, Ontario. Linder is the author of 5 novels, 13 collections
of poetry, a memoir of Manitoulin Island, a children’s book, a collection or
short stories, and a biography of Pauline McGibbon entitled: Pauline
with the 1st edition 1979. She was on the faculty of Lambton
College in Sarnia, teaching English and Creative Writing. Her poems and
short stories have appeared in a multitude of contemporary Canadian
Magazines including Chatelaine and Our Canada. For 7 years
she wrote a monthly column for the Sarnia Observer, and she is a
regular contributor to “Daytripping in Southern Ontario”. She is Past
President of the Sarnia Branch of the Canadian Authors Assoc. She is married
and has three children. |
Jean Little |
Born January
2, 1932, Formosa (Taiwan) China. Died April 6, 2020, Guelph, Ontario. When
her doctor parents realized that baby Jean had severe site problems they
moved to Canada. Although legally blind she completed her BA at the
University of Toronto and trained as a special education teacher. Jean
always knew she would be a writer but she also
felt that she had to work at a real job to make a living. She soon gave up
being a teacher to be a full time writer. She has written some 25
children’s books and two autobiographies: Little by Little
in1987 and Stars Come Out within (in 990.
Jean's first book, Mine for Keeps, won the Little Brown Children's
Book Award in 1962 and was republished by Viking Penguin in 1995. She also
won a number of additional awards, including a Canadian Library Association
(C L A) Book of the Year Medal, the Vicky Metcalf Award, a Canada Council
Children's Literature Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, and the Mr. Christie’s
Book Award. Her books have attracted an international readership and have
been translated into several different languages including Korean. Jean
lived with her talking computer, her seeing eye dog, several collected
family members, and a menagerie of pets including dogs, cats, birds, and
turtles. Her advice to young people of the world “Always remember that the
best place for your nose is inside a book.” |
Robina Lizars |
Born Stratford, Ontario. Died August 26,
1918. She is some times referred to by her married name of Smith. She and
her sister Kathleen co-authored several historical works including In the
days of the Canada Company (Toronto, 1896). |
Kathleen Macfarlane Lizars |
Born Stratford, Ontario. Died April
20, 1931. Kathleen was educated in Toronto and also studied in Scotland.
With her sister, Robina she wrote several books including In the Days of the
Canada Company (Toronto, 1896). She also published on her own a historical
work, The Valley of the Humber (Toronto, 1913.) |
Annie Robertson
Logan
'Barry Dane'
|
née MacFarlane. Born May 26, 1851, St.
John, New Brunswick. Died March 9,1933, Montreal, Quebec. While Annie's
brothers would all attend the University of New Brunswick, as a woman she
could not so, like many young women of her era she attended the Normal
School (teacher's college) in Fredericton to become a teacher. She
would live in New York State, U.S.A. where she had some of her writings
published in Scribner's and the Saturday Evening Post. She also worked as
literary critic for The Nation in Montreal. While with this
publication she penned a series of sketches on French Canadians and went on
to published in The Story of Canada and Stories of Nations
series. She married John Edward Logan (1852-1915) a Canadian insurance
adjuster and settled in Montreal. Using the pseudonym Barry Dane she
continued to contribute to The Nation. While in Montreal she published a
novel, The Children of the Earth, as well as An Account of the Explorations
and Discoveries of Samuel De Champlain, and the Founding of Quebec. In 1929
she established the Stuart MacFarlane scholarship at the University of New
Brunswick to honour her brother. Source ECWW online
(accessed 2022) |
Loreen Rice
Lucas |
Born December 24, 1914, Midland, Ontario. Died January 29, 2011, Hawkestone,
Ontario. Loreen was a survivor right from the get go! She survived
the influenza epidemic of 1918, falling through the ice on Little Lake, The
Great depression, Hurricane Hazel, and the fire that took the family
livelihood. She raised eight children and cared for her elderly parents in the
family home. She was
one of the first women in Ontario to obtain her Real
Estate Broker’s License and her insurance agent’s license.
She was a
lifelong volunteer giving her time to many projects and organizations such
as the Oro Historical Society, the Simcoe County Museum, and she worked
tirelessly with others to make sure swimming lessons were available to the
local children. Loreen shared her life experiences in publications such as the
Orillia Packet Times and the Curious Daytripper. At the age of
80 she learned to use a computer and subsequently wrote and illustrated six
books based upon recollections from her life. In 1992 she received the 125th
Anniversary of Confederation of Canada Medal, followed in 1993 with being
the Citizen of the Year in Oro Township. In 2005 she was woman of the year
of the Orillia Business Women’s Association.
Sources: The Orillia Packet.
|
Janet Lunn |
Born December 28, 1928, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. Died
June 26, 2017, Ottawa, Ontario. An author of books of historical fiction for young readers her writings
have won the Canada Council Prize (1979 and 1988), the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year
for Children (1981 & 1988), the Ruth Schwartz Award ( 1988), the Information
Book Award ( 1995), the Mr. Christie's Book Award ( 1995) and the Governor
General's Award ( 1998) For all her efforts she received the Vicky Metcalf
Award in 1982 which recognizes authors who have inspired youth. She has the
ability to transform avid research into a real time machine for young
readers. She assures her readers that she does have a ghost in her house and
his story is written up in her book "The Root Cellar" (1981). |
Eleanor Georgina Luxton
r4327 |
Born July 31, 1908, Banff, Alberta. Died June
22, 1995. Eleanor attended the University of Alberta, (U of A), Edmonton.
During her time at university she worked as a librarian for the student
newspaper, The Gateway. She also served on the Women's Disciplinary
Committee and was a member of the Delta Delta sorority. She graduated in
1930 and went on to earn her high school teaching certificate from the
University in 1932. She also went on to her her Master Degree from the
University of Alberta. By 1933 she was back home in Banff for the summer
taking the U of A's Department of Extension summer drama course. She taught
a year in Sexsmith, Alberta and then taught at the Banff Public School until
1940. In 1937 the travelled to Japan, China and Hawaii in the U.S.A. In 1939
she travelled again this time to Panama and again to Hawaii. In 1940 she
relocated to Ottawa and taught at Elmwood Private school. She was
hospitalized with exhaustion and headaches. In 1941 she took a machine
drafting course at the Ottawa Technical High School which she found
stimulating. Moving to Montreal in the summer of 1941 she worked with
the Canadian Pacific Railway (C P R) designing locomotives and while there
earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in engineering from Sir George Williams
College (now Concordia University) graduating in 1946. She was
hospitalized once again and diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Returning to
Banff in 1946 and by 1950 she was at the Spears Sanitarium, Denver,
Colorado, U.S.A. Once more back in Montreal in 1950 working as a
lecturer and as an instructor at McGill University. In her spare time
she learned Germany and wrote a manuscript that was published in 2015
called Latch String Out, which told the story of her maternal grandmother.
In 1956 she was working as a field researcher with the Glenbow Foundation,
Calgary, Alberta and collected information from old diaries, letters,
leases, and maps held in archives, museums, art galleries and personal
collections. She also spent a lot of time on the road conducting personal
interviews to collect history's stories. She was a welcome lecturer with the
Alberta Old Timers' Association, the Women's Canadian Club, the High Rivers
Pioneers, the Teacher's Association and the Southern Alberta Pioneers. In
1959 she was in hospital for several months for a spinal fusion. She also
had back surgery in 1961 and 1962. After the death of her parents in the
1960's she settled in Banff. In 1971 she published her father's diaries,
Luxton's Pacific Crossing. In 1975 she published her own book,
Banff, Canada's First National Park. In 1985 she had open heart surgery.
In 1994 she was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. She went on to
establish the Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation to help preserve her
family home in Banff. Source: Eleanor Luxton, Town of Banff.
online (accessed 2023) |
Meg Luxton |
SEE - Academics & Librarians |
Vera Lysenko |
née Lesek. Born 1910, Winnipeg, Manitoba Died 1995. Educated at the University of Manitoba she worked as a
nurse, a school teacher and a Journalist at various times in her varied
career. She sometimes used the name Luba Novak for her writings. Her work
tended to confound standard critical categories and has therefore been much
neglected as Canadian writer. |
Madge MacBeth
|
Born 1878, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Died
September 20, 1965. She had married at 15 and was a widow in her 20's with
two young sons. She turned to writing to support her small family. She was
one of the first travel writers and she constantly had a notebook in her
hands and she wrote about everything she saw. . She would have to her career
credit some 20 novels, two autobiographies, biographies. travel books and
hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. She also enjoyed radio writing
and by 1938 she had written several radio plays, one with 24 episodes! She
believed in supporting her profession and was a popular and willing speaker
at many events. She was also a president of the Ottawa Branch of the
Canadian Women's Press Club. |
Jane Elizabeth Gostwycke MacDonald |
née Roberts. Born February 17, 1864, Westcock, New Brunswick. Died November 8, 1922,
Ottawa, Ontario. The sister of the famous author
Sir Charles C.D. Roberts (1860-1943), Jane attended the University of New
Brunswick in Fredericton. She would publish some poetry in literary
magazines of the day such as The Century, The Independent, and
Outing Magazine. In 1885 her father published a book of her poems called
simply Poems. She worked as a teacher at the School of the Blind in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Resigning from her teaching position, she married her
cousin Samuel Archibald Roberts MacDonald in 1896. In 1889 she brother
Charles submitted her poetry to an anthology called Songs for the Great
Dominion. Her works were also included in a family collection of poems
called Northern Lyrics in 1889 She wrote a children's book, Our Little Canadian Cousin,
published in Boston, 1904 and Dream
Verses and Other, Boston, 1906. Some of her short stories were published in
New York Churchman and Peterson's. In 1912 she moved with her
family to Nelson, British Columbia and by 1914 she was living in Winnipeg,
Manitoba. After the breakdown of her marriage in 1915 she and her sons
settled in Ottawa, Ontario. Source"
Bone, Nigel Alexander and Laura Hennebury , 'Jane
Elizabeth MacDonald', New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia. 2009
(accessed 2024) |
Blanche Lucile Macdonell |
Born 1853. Died November 24, 1924. She was
educated in Toronto, Ontario. She wrote several stories for magazines such
as the Popular Science Monthly. She published a
novel Diane of Ville Marie; A Romance of French Canada published in
Toronto, 1898. (2019) |
Gwendolyn MacEwen |
SEE - Poets |
Carrie 'Birdie' Holmes MacGillivray |
SEE - Artists - Painters |
Mary Esther
MacGregor |
née Miller. Born August 27, 1872, Rudgby, Ontario. Died
February 10, 1961, Owen Sound, Ontario. Mary earned her teacher's
certificate at the Toronto Normal School in 1896. She taught for seven years
in Orillia, Ontario. She began writing about 1905 and would write a column
in the Teacher's Monthly as well as working on the editorial staff for
publications for Sunday school in the Presbyterian church. She used the pen
name Esther miller, part of her real name, but when she found out that this
name was already being used she wrote under the name Marion Keith. In 1909
she married Donald MacGregor and the couple moved around in the area to
accommodate Donald's church postings. Mary penned seven novels while living
in London, Ontario. Her novels provide background insight both into urban
and rural life of her era. She also wrote several biographies including
Courageous Women, which she wrote with Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) who
was a personal friend. The MacGregors retired to a farm on the Georgian Bay.
(2020) |
Agnes Maule Machar |
Born January 23, 1837, Kingston, Canada West (now Ontario). Died January 24, 1927,
Kingston, Ontario. Educated in Kingston Agnes would show
her skills as a writer under the pen names 'Fidelis', 'Miss Machar', and "A
Lady of Ontario'. She would published
novels and historical works as well as collections of prose and poetry. For
her early work Katie Johnston's Cross (Toronto, 1870) she
would receive a prize for the best children's Sunday School Fiction. Among
her several works were The Story of Old Kingston (Toronto,
1908) and Stories of the British Empire (Toronto,1913). In 1873 she
wrote with her mother, Memoirs of the Rev. John Machar (Toronto,
1873) Her writings did not masque her views as a Christian, a nationalist, a
feminist, and a social crusader. (2020) |
Claire Lorraine Mackay |
née Bacchus Born December 21, 1930. Died August 11, 2013. At the age of 8
she started her own community newspaper. She won scholarships and earned her
BA in Political Sciences at the University of Toronto. She married Jackson
Mackay and the couple have three sons. She wrote her 1st book
Mini Bike Hero for her son and on a whim submitted it in a contest run
by Scholastic Books. She had a great since of humor combined with the
ability to be a true wordsmith. She had a love for dictionaries and would
always find the right word to spice up her writing. He would write 11
children’s and young adult fiction and non fiction books. Her writing
garnered her the Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work and the Ruth
Schwartz Award for One Proud Summer. She was a co-founder of the
Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers. She
felt strongly about encouraging young authors and she wrote fan letters to
authors publishing their 1st book for young readers.
Source: “Children’s Author CANSCAIP Co-founder Claire Mackey Dies” by Sue
Carter Flin, Quill& Quire, August 13, 2013 ; Obituary, Globe and
Mail, August 17, 2013. |
Isabel
'Belle' Ecclestone
MacKay
|
née Macpherson. Born November 24, 1875, Woodstock, Ontario. Died August 15, 1928,
Vancouver, British Columbia. As a child growing up Belle was a champion
highland dancer. While still in school some of her writings appeared in
school publications. By the time she was 15 she had poems and short stories
published in Canadian newspapers and magazines. As a contributor to the
Woodstock Daily Express from 1890 to 1900 she used the pen name
'Heather'. One of her stories 'Miss Witterly's China' was published as a
pamphlet for the Women's Missionary Society in 1896. In 1895 she married
Peter J. MacKay and the couple had three daughters. In 1898 the Woodstock
Public Library published her first book of poems, Pansies for Thoughts.
In 1909 the family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. As a poet she
would published some three volumes of verse, including a volume for
children. She would win the Toronto Globe's prize for best poem on an
historical subject in 1907 and again in 1910. She published short stories and some seven novels
with her first novel, The House of Windows, published in 1912. Belle was a
prominent worker with the Canadian Women's Press Club (C W P C) where she
served as of the Vancouver branch in 1910. From 1913-1916 she was
president of the provincial C W P C and Alberta. the first president of. As a playwright she
wrote a number of plays which have been produced in Canada and the United
States. Her recognition as a prominent Canadian author was displayed when
her obituary was published on the front page of the Toronto Globe.
Source; D C B (2022) |
Catherine Dunlop MacKenzie
|
SEE - Journalists |
Mary MacLane/MacLane |
Born May 2, 1881, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died August 6, 1929,
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Her family settled in Butte Montana, U.S.A.. In
1902 she penned an autobiography The Story of Mary MacLane which sold
across North America but was banned in Boston. She attempted to attend
Radcliffe College, Boston but did not have any scholarships and was refused
entry to the college. She settled in New York City, U.S.A. returning home to
Montana when she had scarlet fever in 1911. Here she wrote her last novel
I Mary MacLane published in 1917. It was during this time that she was
invited to become a Hollywood screenwriter and an actor. She was accused of
stealing some expensive wardrobe dresses and never recovered trying to pay
for the costumes. She died destitute and being cared for by her
companion Harriet Williams. Source: Women Film
Pioneers Project (2019). |
Dorothy Maclean |
Born January 7, 1920, Guelph, Ontario. Died March 13, 2020,
Findhorn, United Kingdom. Dorothy earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from
the University of Western Ontario, London. By 1941 she was working for the
British Security Coordination in New York City, U.S.A. While posted to
Panama she met and married John Wood but the couple divorced in 1951. She
lived in England during the 1950's where she met friends involved in
spiritual practices. Soon she was working with her friends at their hotel in
Scotland. In 1954 Dorothy had her 1st experience of the God within, which
she called a 'vast unity'. In 1972 Dorothy and her friends Sheena Govan and
Peter Caddy founded the Findhorn Foundation, a charitable trust and
spiritual community. Leaving the group the following year Dorothy founded an
educational organization the Lorian Association, a spiritual education
community in North America. Her third book, To Hear the Angels
Sing, 1980, gave an overview of work at Findhorn. A later
full length biography Memoirs of an Ordinary Mystic, her tenth book
was published in 2010. She is perhaps best known for her descriptions of
contacts with the consciousnesses of nature which she called 'devas', a
formless energy field which she believed oversee the pattern and growth of
all forms and embodiments of creative intelligence. In 2010 she returned to
Findhorn in Scotland to retire from public life. The Ontario Heritage Act
had designated her childhood home in Guelph as a heritage property.
(2020) |
Ada Macleod
Author & Historian |
née Ramsay. Born March 31, 1867, Malpeque, Prince Edward
Island. Died March 2, 1932, Summerside, Prince Edward Island. After Ada's
family relocated to Summerside in the 1870's she completed her formal
education at the Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown graduating at the
top of her class. She taught school until December 28, 1886 when she married
Neil Macleod (died 1934). The couple had eight sons. She was active in the
Womens' Missionary Societies of her Presbyterian Church and after 1925 the
United Church of Canada. She also was a member of the Women's Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU) and The Imperial Order of the Daughters of the
Empire (I O D E) where she served as Regent of local group from
1915-1920. She was also a staunch supporter of the Summerside Library and
the Canadian Handicrafts Guild. She would publish numerous articles of
Scottish and local P. E. I. history in the Canadian Magazine, the
Dalhousie Review, Maclean's Magazine, the New England
Magazine, and various P.E.I. newspapers. The I O D E would raise funds with
one of her local history publications. Sadly two of their sons were killed
during World War l and Ada would spend time in hospital in Montreal.
Source: E C W W, Online (accessed 2020);
D C B (2020); D C B |
Annie L. MacLeod
3519 |
Annie began studying at McGill University,
Montreal in 1904. After earning her Bachelor and Master degrees in 1910 she
graduated as the first woman with a Doctorate from McGill. Her degree was in
chemistry. After completing her studies she taught at Vassar College for
women, Poughkeepsie, New York and at Syracuse University, New York, U.S.A.
She also authored several books on chemistry, nutrition and well being.
Source: Highlights from McGill theses and dissertations. online (accessed
2021) |
Elizabeth MacLeod |
Born October 21, 1958, Thornhill, Ontario. Elizabeth attended the University of Toronto
where she studies sciences. After university she backpacked through Europe
for a year and returned to work at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
One summer she attended the Banff School Publishing Workshop in Alberta.
Returning home she had a contact from the course approach her to work at
Owl Magazine, the Canadian publication for young children. To supplement
her Owl income she wrote for the text book publishing company, Grolier as
well as the Owl book publishing group. Leaving Owl in 1989 she worked for a
software company which taught her that she would rather be publishing books.
Working with Kids Can Press she has written biographies of famous people as
well as the Kids Book of Great Canadians published in 2004. That same
year her work on Helen Keller won the Society of School Librarian
International Honour Book designation. She has also published in 2006 the
Kids Book of Great Canadian Women. Since Elizabeth also enjoys being in
the kitchen she has used her love of baking to produce several books for
youth including Bake and Make Amazing Cakes and Gifts to Make and
Eat.
Sources:
Elizabeth MacLeod by Dave Jenkinson CM Magazine, University of
Manitoba, 2006 Online (accessed January 2007) |
Elizabeth 'Bessie' Marguerite MacMillan
Miller |
née MacMillan, Born July 3 1880, Issac's Harbour, Nova
Scotia. Died August 25, 1948, Bedford, Nova Scotia. Bessie graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts from Acadia University in Nova Scotia in 1902. After
graduation she taught at the Acadia Ladies Seminary, She left her position
in 1905 to marry Dr. Vernon Laurie Miller (1878-1926) and the couple had two
sons.
Using the name E. Marguerite Cary she
published her first novel, A Jumble Jar, in 1928. She also published
numerous pamphlets and in 1945 she produced My String of Pearls.
Source E C W W online (accessed 2022) |
Marion Bell
MacRae |
SEE - Architects |
Margaret Isobel
McBurney |
née McElroy.
Born February 27, 1931, Regina, Saskatchewan. Died November 17, 2018. In
1954 Margaret was the first woman to received a Bachelor of Interior Design
from the University of Manitoba. She married Robert Nichol in May
(died 2012) and the couple had three children. She practiced first in
Regina, then London, Ontario and finally settling in Toronto where she
worked with the Ontario Architectural Inventory at the University of
Toronto. She would become an author of Canadian social history,
heritage buildings and architecture. Along with Mary Byers she
co-authored six social histories. She wrote The Great Adventure: The Arts
and Letters Club of Toronto and edited It's All About Kindness; Remembering
June Callwood. She was a founder and board member of the Casey House Hospice
for Aid's sufferers. She was the building renovation Project Manager,
coordinating six volunteer design teams, as well as the electrical,
mechanical and general contractors. She married a second time to Donald
Rodwell Austin in Jun 1995. In 1996 she earned The Ontario Association of
Architects Allied Arts Award. She served as president 1998-2000 of the
Toronto Arts and Letters Club, Director of the Lake of Bays Heritage
Foundation, editor of the Ontario Heritage Connection as well as a board
member of the Trinity Home Hospice, Toronto Preservation Board, Theatre
Museum and the Cabbagetown Heritage Committee. After she son was badly
burned from fireworks she led a successful national campaign to pan penny
firecrackers in Canada. After her son was killed by a drunk driver she
campaigned to tighten the national laws on drunk driving. She was also
stepmother to three step daughters with her companion Robert Beardsley
(died 2017). Source Canadian who's Who 2000 |
Christina McCall |
SEE - Journalists |
Norah McClintock-Rosenfeld
4221 |
Born March 11, 1952, Montreal, Quebec. Died February 6, 2017,
Toronto, Ontario. Norah studied history to earn a Bachelor of Arts from
McGill University, Montreal. Relocating to Toronto she married Herman Rosenfeld and
the couple had two daughters. She was a member of the Canadian Society
of Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Performers and Crime Writers,
Canada. From 200 through to 2015 she wrote 33 young adult fiction books. In
total she wrote more than 60 books. She wrote the Robyn Hunter Mysteries,
Chloe and Levesque Mysteries, and Mike and Riel Mysteries published by
Scholastic Publishers, the Ryan Dooley Mysteries with Red Deer press, and various other
titles for Orca press. She also wrote stand along works including Dear Canada; Sea
of Sorrows. She was a five-time winner of the Crime Writers' of Canada
Author Ellis Award. Source: Obituary online (accessed
2023) |
Lynn McDonald |
SEE - Politicians |
Margaret Moran McDougal/MacDougall
|
SEE - Journalists |
Ruth McKenzie
Librarian, Journalist, Historian |
Born
December 8, 1904, Wellington County, Ontario. After leaving high school, she
attended the Toronto Normal School and then taught successively in the
continuation schools at Aberfoyle and Wroxeter. She graduated from Queen's
University in 1930 with honours in English and History, after which she
obtained a library science degree from the University of Toronto. She worked
as a reference librarian in the Toronto Public Library until 1943 when she
became editor and research director for National Farm Radio Forum,
responsible for the study bulletin Farm Forum Guide. In 1954 she
joined the Citizenship Branch of the Department of Citizenship and
Immigration where she edited the bimonthly periodical Citizen. After
an early retirement, Ruth McKenzie began her career as a freelance writer,
editor and researcher. Her articles appeared in the Canadian Geographic
Journal, Chatelaine, the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, the Canadian
Encyclopedia and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. She has written the
following books: Leeds and Grenville, Their First Two Hundred Years,
1967; Laura Secord, the Legend and the Lady, 1971; James
FitzGibbon, Defender of Upper Canada, 1983; and she edited The St.
Lawrence Survey Journals of Henry Wolsey Bayfield, two volumes,
(Champlain Society,1984 and 1986) |
Doreen McKenzie - Sanders |
SEE - Businesswomen |
Jean Newton McIlwraith |
Born 1859, Hamilton, Canada West (Ontario). Died November 17, 1938. A prolific writer for her day, many of her
works were meant to provide information and biographical data for her
readers. The making of Mary (New York, 1895) was followed with A Book About
Shakespeare (New York, 1898) and Canada (New York, 1899) She would also
write Sir Frederick Haldimand (Toronto, 1904) among others. |
Sharon E. McKay |
Born January 29, 1954, Montreal, Quebec. As a child books were her constant
companions during summer vacation in the Laurentians. After the family home
was sold when she was 13 she would spend her summers in Belfast, Northern
Ireland. While at Dawson College in Quebec she met and married David McKay.
The couple have two sons. She attended Bishop’s University in Lennoxville,
Quebec and switched to York University, Toronto. She wrote articles on
parenting for a local newspaper and built up her portfolio of work. She used
this to gain a writing position at the Toronto Star newspaper. Her 1st
book was Streetproofing Gently and Creatively but she feels it was
‘horrible’ In 1993 she went to a publisher asking about enlarging chalk and
published Chalk Around the Block. This was followed by several
activity books, all of which were tested before publishing by her husband’s
cub and scout groups. In 2001 she was writing for Penquin publishing series
for Canadian Girls with Penelope: Terror in the Harbour. Other
historical novels for young readers followed. Ester, the story of a
Jewish girl in New France was published in 2004. In 2009 she was named as a
Canadian War Artist. This institution goes back to World War l and has honored many noted artists. Sharon is the 1st young adult writer
to have this title. She traveled to Afghanistan in 2009 and was inspired to
write Thunder of Kandahar, published in 2010. In 2013 War Brothers: the
Graphic Novel tells the story of child soldiers in northern Uganda. Living
with her family in Israel she was able to research her book End of the
Line a novel for middle grade readers about Nazi occupation of Holland
in World War ll published in 2014. |
Janet McNaughton |
Born 1953, Toronto, Ontario. Janet always remembers loving to write producing
stories from the time she was 11 years old. Janet studied at the York
University, Toronto earning her BA in 1973. By 1983 she had earned a
Master’s Degree from Memorial University in Newfoundland followed in 1989
with a PhD in folklore from Memorial. She married professor Michael Wallack
and the couple had one daughter. After her university studies she wrote for
magazines, usually articles on gardening and the environment. She then took
over a weekly newspaper column reviewing children’s books and then reviewed
books for magazines. Her 1st book Catch Me once Catch Me Twice
was published in 1994. Her second book To Dance at the Palais Royal
would win three awards. Janet is an active member with the Writers’ Union of
Canada, the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland where she served for a time as
president and Labrador and the Canadian Book Centre. (2018) |
Sylvia McNicoll |
Born September 30, 1954, Ajax, Ontario. She put herself through Concordia
University with night classes while working in cash management for a large
paper company. After university she married Bob McNicoll and the couple have
three children. She attempted to write short stories and had household hint
articles published in the local newspaper in Burlington, Ontario. She took a
children’s writing course at Sheridan College and wrote her 1st
novel Blueberries and Whipped Cream in class. After publishing nine books at
her own she returned to Sheridan College as a teacher. For eight years she
edited Today’s Parent magazine from Toronto. She has served as a Director on
the Board for Access Copyright. She has also spent time writing profiles of
authors for the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Her book Dying to Go Viral
was a great hit in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Germany before it came to
Canada. Her book What the Dog Says is also available in foreign languages.
Her works have won several awards including the Silver Birch and Manitoba
Young Reader’s Choice Award in 1996, the Explora-toy Best Novel for Caught
in a Lie in 2000, The Hamilton Arts Multimedia Award in 2007 and the 2011
Arts Hamilton Award. |
Louise Maheux - Forcier |
Born
June 9, 1929, Montreal, Quebec. Died
February 5, 2015. Louise studied music at the Conservatoire de musique et
d'art dramatique du Quebec and then from 52 to 1954 she studied in Paris,
France. In 1959 she began to concentrate on writing. In 1963 her
1st
novel was awarded the Prix du Cercle du livre de France.
She wrote of the then critical theme of lesbianism. She continued to write
novels and branched out to short stories and scripts for films for TV.
In 1974 she was named writer-in-residence at the University of
Ottawa. In 1985 she was named to the Royal Society of Canada and in 1986 she
was inducted into the Order of Canada.
(2018) |
Andrée Mailet
|
Born June 7, 1921, Montreal, Quebec. Died December 3, 1995, Montreal, Quebec.
Andrée enjoyed
writing and embraced it at the age of 11. From 1943 through 1952 she had a
career as a journalist. From 1952 through to 1960 she was director of the
magazine Amérique français and a columnist for the Petit journal.
She became the founder of the French Canadian chapter of PEN Club. She
married Lloyd Hobden. In 1966 she ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for
provincial election in Quebec for the Rassemblement pour l’independence
Nationals in the Westmount area of Montreal. In 1974 she was named to the
Académie des lettres du Québec and in 1978 she was inducted into the Order
of Canada. In 1990 she earned the Prix Athanase-David. The following year
she became a Grand Officer in the National Order of Quebec. She would
publish a total of 7 works consisting of collections of poems, short stories
and four novels. |
Antonine Maillet |
Born May 10,
1929, Bouctouche, New Brunswick. In 1950 she earned her Bachelor of Arts from
the College Notre-Dame d'Acadie. She continued her education by earning her
Master's degree from the Université de Moncton, New Brunswick in 1959. From
1954 through 1960 she taught literature and folklore at the college and then
she taught for two years at the University of Moncton. She also taught at
the College de Jésuites de Québec, the
Université Laval, and the University of Montreal She began writing
while still a Master's student publishing her 1st work Pointe-aux-Coques in
1958. By
1971 she had earned her PhD in literature from the Université Laval, Quebec
City. She worked for Radio Canada in Moncton as a scriptwriter and host. A storyteller supreme, this novelist is most famous for her French
language work La Sagouine which is rich in Acadian heritage. This
novel has been made into a very popular one-person play. Linda Evangelista.
In 1976 she was inducted as an Officer into the Order of Canada and was
promoted to a Companion of the Order in 1981.In
1979 her work Pélagie-la-Charrette won the
Prix Goncourt
for the best and most imaginative prose work of the year, making her
the 1st non-European recipient.
In 1980 the Royal Society of Canada presented her with the Lorne Pierce
Medal. Five years later she was made an Officier des arts et des lettres de
France. In 1992 she became a member of the Queen's Privy Council allowing
her the right to use the prefix 'The Honourable'. From 1989 to
2000 she served as chancellor of the Université de Moncton. In 2005 she
received the Order of New Brunswick. (2019) |
E. Madge Mandy
Adventurer |
Born in the U.S.A. A college professor from Kansas she married T. Joseph
Mandy a mines engineer and amateur photographer. The couple loved the
western Canadian northland. Madge would write of their experiences trekking
across the area in the 1930’s and with reprints in the 1990’s the books
effects are still being felt. The book was : Our Trail led Northwest:
true trail romance and adventure in British Columbia. (Reprinted Surrey,
B.C.: Heritage House 1992.) Madge Lake, Madge Mountain were both named for
this adventurer. The town of Burnaby , British Columbia boasts of Madge
Ave., named in her honour.
Source: Herstory: The Canadian Women’s Calendar 2000. (Silver
Anniversary Edition) Coteau Books, 1999. Page 12. |
Elisabeth Mann - Borgese |
April 24, 1918, Munich, Germany.
Died February 8, 2002 St Morita, Switzerland. From 1959 through 1961 she
published 6 books of fiction. Elisabeth was an internationally recognized
expert on maritime law and policy and the protection of the environment who
organized the 1st conference on the law and the sea in Malta in 1970. From
1973 to 1982 she was part of an expert group of the Austrian delegation
during the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. In 1970 she
published the Drama of the Oceans. In 1977 Dalhousie University,
Halifax invited her to be a Professor of Political Science. She published
Seafarm: the Story of Aquaculture in 1980. She published in 1998 the
Oceanic Circle. She continued teaching at Dalhousie until she was 80.
She was on a ski vacation in Switzerland when she died.
(2019) |
Lee Maracle
Métis Author |
Born July 2, 1950. Died November 2, 2021. Maracle grew up in North
Vancouver, British Columbia. Her first career was that of a stand up
comedian and this evolved into being a filmmaker. She is best know however
for her poetry., short stories, novels and collaborative anthologies which
address a wide range of Indigenous issues. In the fall of 2021 she joined
the faculty of Kwatlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia to teach
Indigenous studies. Source: Canadian Encyclopedia. |
Susan / Suzanne Marny |
SEE - Mabel Annesley Johnston. |
Claire Martin |
SEE - Claire Montreuil |
Alice Stuart Massey |
née Parkin. Born Fredericton, New
Brunswick Died July 29, 1950. The wife of Canada's 1st Canadian Born
Governor General, kept her busy with an extremely active social life that
was required of the family she had married into. She did have an interest in
women's roles in modern society and was author of Occupations for trained
women in Canada (London, 1920) |
Carol Matas |
Born November 14, 1949, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She went to theatre school and acted in Toronto before discovering her
talent for writing children's books. She enjoys writing fantasy. She also
has taken what she considered an important story about the treatment of Jews
in World War ll and written a book so that Canadian youth would know what
happened. Her books have won the Geoffrey Bilson Award ( 1987), the Silver
Birch Award (1993) and the Red Maple Award( 1996). |
Elizabeth
'Liz' Maxwell |
Born September 29, 1948, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died July 30, 2005, Toronto,
Ontario. Liz attended Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and earned a
Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Toronto. She taught
high School in Fenelon Falls, Ontario where she lived with her 1st
husband Jim Webster and the couple had three children. She later married
Mike Trusz and became stepmother to his three children. In 1992 she received
a liver transplant which allowed her an additional thirteen years with her
family. She participated in the 1997 transplant games in Australia earning a
Silver Medal. She travelled to the Greek Islands, France and throughout
North America. It was at this time she began writing. She also was a will
speaker on behalf of the organ donor program. Her book: Stories
and Memoirs from her journey was published friends in her writing club
and proceeds from the sale of the book support liver transplants. |
Gloria Mehlmann
Aboriginal Author |
Born Cowessess First Nations
Reserve, Saskatchewan. After school Gloria became a teacher and taught
public school in the Regina, Saskatchewan area from 1962 to 1983. She is a
staunch supporter of libraries and has served as a Trustee on her local
library Board, She has also served as a Director of Aboriginal Education.
She is the author of Gifted to Learn: a Memoir in 2004. In 2005 she
was the recipient of the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal. She has also
published stories in her book Adam's Tree. She retired to Nanoose
Bay, British Columbia. |
Elinor Melville 4266 |
Born 1941? Papua, New Guinea. Died March 10,
2006, Toronto, Ontario. Eleanor and her mother escaped on the last flight to
leave New Guinea just before the Japanese during World War ll (1939-1945)
The settled first in Australia, then moved to New Zealand before Eleanor
immigrated to Canda living in Newfoundland. She had earned a degree in
Physiotherapy while she was in Sydney , Australia but returned to school to
earn her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto. She continued her
studies to earn a Master's of Arts and the he Doctoral degree (PhD) from the
University of Michigan in the U.S.A. She used part f her inheritance
from her mother to purchase a lot in Tlayacapan, Morelos, outside of Mexico
City. She would return to Mexico often to remain for a couple of months
during the year. Elinor was an associate history professor at York
University , Toronto and published the book A Plaque of Sheep which was a
pioneering work of environmental history. She continued to teach classes at
York University until her illness from Cancer prevented her from working.
Source: Obituary, The Toronto Star, April 24, 2006
online (accessed 2006) (2023) |
Ruby Mercer-Por |
SEE - Entertainers - Opera Singers |
Sara / Sarah Mickle |
Born June 13, 1853, Guelph, Ontario. Died June 2, 1939, Toronto, Ontario.
The family
relocated from Guelph to Toronto. Not much is recorded on her early life.
She was active in supporting her church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church as
well as the Hillcrest Convalescent Hospital in Toronto. Her avocation was
local history. She worked with the Pioneer and Historical Society of the
Province of Ontario which as a meeting when she was the only woman in
attendance she suggested be renamed the Ontario Historical Society. She was
immersed in the Women’s Canadian Historical Society serving from 1897
through 1930 on the executive committee including serving some 15 years as
President. She wrote papers for the WCHC and was in demand as a gifted
speaker. In 1899 she worked with a group to set up a successful historic
exhibition at Victoria University. She also poured her energies over the
years into saving the site of Fort York from being devoured by urban
commercial takeover. Another Conservation project close to her heart was the
restoration of Colborne Lodge the 1837 home of artist-architect John George
Howard, located near High Park. Source:
D C B vol. XV Online (accessed March 2014) .
|
Elizabeth 'Bessie' Marguerite Miller
3662 |
née MacMillan, Born July 3 1880, Issac's Harbour, Nova
Scotia. Died August 25, 1948, Bedford, Nova Scotia. Bessie graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts from Acadia University in Nova Scotia in 1902. After
graduation she taught at the Acadia Ladies Seminary, She left her position
in 1905 to marry Dr. Vernon Laurie Miller (1878-1926) and the couple had two
sons.
Using the name E. Marguerite Cary she
published her first novel, A Jumble Jar, in 1928. She also published
numerous pamphlets and in 1945 she produced My String of Pearls.
Source E C W W online (accessed 2022) |
Phoebe Florence Miller |
Born July 8
1889, Topsail, Newfoundland. Died May 18, 1979, Topsail, Newfoundland. In
1907 Florence completed school and began working as a government telegraph
operator a position she held until she retired in 1942. In 1920 she won 1st
prize in Dr. Chase’s Almanac Great Diary Contest sponsored by Edamson Bates
and Company. In 1921 and again in 1924 she tied for 1st place in
this annual competition. For over 25 years she submitted verses to American
greeting card companies such as Rust Craft Cards. She published one book of
poems and had her poems appear in the Evening Telegram, the Newfound
Quarterly and additional publications. In 1929 she Published In Caribou Land
(Toronto: Ryerson) with a forward by the acclaimed Canadian poet E. J. Pratt.
Florence was also an avid letter writer to family and friends who had moved
away.
Source: The Gazette January 26, 1995. Suggestion submitted by Nora Phillips. |
Margaret Millar |
née Sturm. Born 1915, Kitchener, Ontario.
Died March 26, 1994. She married Kenneth Miller when she was a student
studying the classics at the University of Toronto in 1938. In 1941 she
penned her first novel The Invisible worm" She would write some 6 novels in
her early career all of which had a Canadian setting. After 1950 her
mysteries were mainly set in California where she had settled with her
family. She even did the Hollywood 'thing' after world war ll when she was a
screenwriter for Warner Brothers Studios. She and her husband, had a mutual
enjoyment of nature and helped found a chapter of the National Audubon
Society. in 1965 she was the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year. Her
numerous writings are often overshadowed by the works of her husband who
became a well known mystery writer under the pen name of Ross Macdonald. |
Lee Maracle |
|
Dorthea Mitchell
Amateur Filmmaker, Screenwriter &
Author |
See - Entertainers - Miscellaneous |
Lucy Maud Montgomery -Macdonald |
née Montgomery.
Born November 30, 1874, Clifton, Prince Edward Island. Died April 24, 1942,
Toronto, Ontario.
It is no surprise to know that she was born in Prince Edward Island.
She would use the stories and lessons of growing up in her
world famous novels about a young orphan named Anne. The Book Anne
of Green Gables was 1st published in June 1908 and by November 1909 the book
had already been through six printings. the book is still enormously
popular today. Later there was
also Emily and Jane, new characters L.M. Montgomery would share share with the world.
There have been movies, TV shows and a stage musical all produced based on
the book. Actually Lucy Maude went on to publish 20 novels, over 500 short
stories, 500 poems and 30 essays. Her works made Prince Edward Island a
literary landmark destined to become a popular tourist site. In 1911 Lucy
married a Presbyterian minister Ewen/Ewan Macdonald (1870-1943) and the
couple moved to Ontario. Their home in Leaskdale is now a Museum. The couple
would have three sons two of whom would live to adulthood. She was a staunch
supporter of the home war effort during World War 1 (1914-1918) and lent her
celebrity to recruiting Canadian soldiers. Her diaries showed that she felt
tortured by the war itself. Both Ewen and Lucy would suffer from severe
bouts of depression during their lives. She continued to write until 1940
when her last book, The Blythes Are Quoted was delivered to the
publisher on the day she died. Her writing was a saving grace for Lucy.
She was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935. In 1943
she was designated a Person of National Historic Significance. Her
diaries and papers are held in the Archives of the University of Guelph.
In 1975 the Canadian Post Office issued a stamp honouring Anne of Green
Gables and in 2008 a stamp was issued making the centennial of the
publication. On November 30, 2015 Google honoured Lucy Maud Montgomery with
a Google Doodle that was published in 12 countries. Have
you ever read "Anne of
Green Gables?" In
which of the 14 languages the book is translated did you read the
book. |
Susanna Moodie
|
née Strickland.
Born December 6, 1803, Bungay, England. Died
April 8, 1885 Toronto, Ontario. Susanna wrote her 1st children's book
in 1822 and went on to publish other children's stories in London, England.
On April 4, 1831 she married a retired military officer John Moodie. In 1832
Susanna, John and their daughter immigrated to Upper Canada settling just
outside of Lakefield. Susanna
lived the difficult life of a settler in Upper Canada and she wrote about her adventures in
a famous book called Roughing
it in the Bush. By 1853, living in Belleville, Upper
Canada she wrote Life in the Clearings Versus the Bush. She was also an early Canadian journalist
writing for the best of the Canadian literary journals of the day.
She was very suspicious of the “Yankee” (American) influence on early
Canada. Her sister, Catherine Parr Trail (1802-1899) was also a famous Canadian
author. September 8 2003 Canada Post issued as special
commemorative series for the 50th anniversary of the National Library of
Canada which featured Susanna and her sister. |
Maria Monk |
Born June 27, 1816, Died 1849. It is
rumored that she stuck a pencil
in her ear and caused some brain damage when she was only seven years old.
As a young adult, she ran off to the U.S.A. where she claimed to have been a
Nun who had been sexually exploited. The newspapers and magazines picked up
on her stories and in 1936 a book was published under the title of The Awful
Disclosures of Maria Monk or the Hidden Secrets of a Nun. The book fuelled
the anti-Catholic sentiment of the era and was popular reading. A sequel to
the popular first volume soon followed. Investigations into the truth of the
works also followed. These later investigations would show that the premises
of the books were false but the harm had been done to strengthen religious
dissention. Marie herself simply drifted off to live a life that would end
in an almshouse at Blackwell’s Island in New York.
Source:
D C B (accessed May 2008)
|
Claire Montreuil |
Born April 18, 1914, Quebec City, Quebec. Died
June 18, 2014, Quebec City, Quebec. Claire was educated with the Ursulines
and by the Dames de la Congrégation. By 1945 she was living in Ottawa and
served as writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa. Her first novel,
Avec ou sans amour come out in 1958 and it won the Prix du Cercle du livre
de France. Continuing to write in French she published two more novels in
1960 and 1962. Le Quand j'aurai payé ton visage
was translated into English under the title The Legacy.
More novels followed, again in French, in 1965 she won the Prix
France-Québec and the Governor General's Award for French language fiction.
In 1972 her final novel was adapted into a play. She left the university and
relocated to France from 1972-1982 and then returned to live in Quebec City.
In 1984 she became an Officer in the Order of Canada as one of the most
important writers of her generation in Canada. In 2007 she was inducted as
an Officer into the National Order of Quebec. (2023) |
Shani Mootoo |
Born 1957, Ireland. Shani was raised in Trinidad, the home of
her parents. As a youth she showed talents in drawing and painting and at
ten she decided she would be an artist. She earned her Bachelor degree in
Fine Arts at the University of Western Ontario in 1980. She would return to
study for her Master's at the University of Guelph graduating in 2010. She
is a multi media artist who has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia
and from 1994-1999 in New York City, New York, U.S.A. Her art has bee
exhibited internationally including a showing at the New York Museum of
Modern Art. Her 1st book was a collection of short stories called Out on
Main Street published in 1993. She followed this in 1996 with the
publication of her 1st novel, Cereus Blooms at Night. which was short
listed for several awards and won the New England Book Sellers Award in
1998. Her 1st collection of poetry was published in 2002. In 2005, 2008 and
again in 2014 more novels were published. She has been Writer-in-residence
at the University of Alberta, the University of Guelph and the University of
the West Indies in Cave Hill, Barbados. She has also written, directed and
films numerous videos. She teaches creative writing at the University of
Toronto.
(2019) |
L /Louis Moresby
E. Barrington;
Eliza Louisa Beck; |
SEE
- Lily Adams Beck |
Bernice Morgan |
February 8, 1935, St John's
Newfoundland. She worked in public relations at Memorial University of
Newfoundland and with the Newfoundland Teacher's association. She produced
several short stories that appeared in small magazines and school textbooks.
In 1992 she published her 1st novel Random Passage and followed up with a
sequel in 1994 which won the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award in
1994 and the Thomas Head Raddall Award in 1995 and the Newfoundland Artist
of the Year from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. The books
follow the struggles of an outport family from the early 1800's to the Cod
Moratorium. These books were picked up in 2002 becoming a four-part
mini series for TV that was picked up by the CBC and was also shown in
Ireland. It took until 2007 for her third novel to be published. Bernice has
three children. In 2012 she became a Member of the Order of Canada.
(2019) |
Audrey Yvonne
Morris |
Born July 1930, Athens, Ontario. Died June 1, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In
1952 Audrey earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
While at university she wrote a collective biography which included
Catherine Parr Trail and Susanna Moodie. Her work originally appeared in
installments in Chatelaine magazine prior to being published as a separate
book in 1968 under the title Gentle Pioneers: fifteen nineteenth century
Canadians.. Audrey worked as a civil servant in Ottawa at various positions
including as a speech writer. Re locating to Winnipeg she worked as a
consultant in her own business, Morris Associates doing career consulting.
She also wrote a business section column in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Source: Obituary, Toronto Globe and Mail July 19,
2014.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon of Ottawa. |
Ruth Rittenhouse Morris |
SEE - Social Activists |
Maud Morrison |
Maud is best known for her work This Canada of Ours. This was originally a
comic strip series which appeared in various Canadian publications between
May 1925 and May 1929. The illustrations in the publications were done my
Maud’s Brother John Stewart Morrison. J.S. Morrison is given 1st place on
the published book which appeared in a boxed publication in 1929. This
volume covered up to the time of Count Frontenac and was to be followed by a
second volume. In 1937 an much less fancy edition that covered Canadian
history up to world war l was published. It was revised and much expanded.
There is no indication why after 1929 Maud did not bring out her second
volume of her original work. Maud may have married Ernest Stone on December
31, 1907. |
Hope Morritt |
Born Edmonton Alberta. Died February 8, 2013, Petrolia, Ontario. She married
Dan Cameron and in 1960 the couple settled in Sarnia , Ontario. Hope earned
a bachelor of arts in English from the University of Western Ontario and did
post graduate work in Irish literature at the University of Dublin. She
authored several works of fiction, including Nahanni, a book she co-authored with
Norma West Linder (1928- ). Her works received many awards over the years,
including first place in a writing competition sponsored by the Banff School
of Fine Arts (now the Banff Centre), which earned her a writing scholarship.
She taught creative writing at Lambton College and launched a creative
writing program for gifted students. Hope was a member of The Writers’
Union of Canada and a member of WIT (Writers in Transition) in Sarnia. Source:
“Hope
Morritt, local author and friend of writers, has died” By
JD Booth online (accessed February 9, 2013
) |
Ann Mortifee |
SEE - Entertainers - Singers - Folk |
Annie Mountain
3653 |
née Gilpin. Born February 19, 1823, St. Mary's, Nova Scotia.
Died May 5, 1882, Brading, Isle of Wight, England. In 1847 she married Rev.
Jacob Jehosaphat Salter Mountain (1824-1910) of the Anglican Church. The
couple lived in Lennoxville, Canada East. They became a missionary couple
in the area and eventually settled in Coteau-du-lac, Canada East (now
Ontario), where the
couple raised their three children. In 1858 they sailed to England and the
Channel Islands. She published her first novel in 1862 and the following
year published second novel. Her third work, A Wreath of Rue, was
published in Toronto in 1873.
Source; ECWW |
Grace Helen Mowat
r 04 |
Born January 31, 1875, St. Andrews, New
Brunswick. Died February 22, 1964, St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Grace
was educated at Richmond School of Art and Music, London, England and the
Women's Art School, Cooper Union, New York City, U.S.A. She taught from
1902 through 1906 at the St. Catherine's Hall in Augusta, Maine, U.S.A. In
1907 she returned to St. Andrew's to recover her health. In 1914 she founded
Charlotte County Cottage Craft to provide a source of income for women and
to revive the cottage Craft Industry. In 1924 New Brunswick
Creates were on exhibit at the British Empire Exhibition, Wembley, London,
England. In 1934 she founded the St. Andrews Music, Art and Drama Society.
She would remain as director of Charlotte County Cottage Craft until 1945.
Beginning in the late 1920's Grace published accounts of local history. By
the 1930's she was writing plays for the local theatre which were popular
productions by the St. Andrews Music, Art, and Drama Society.
(2023) |
Bharati Mukherjee
r 5 |
Born July 27, 1940, Kolata, India. Died January
28, 2017, Manhattan, New York, U.S.A. After India's independence she
travelled to Europe with her parents. In 1959 she earned her Bachelor of
Arts from the University of Calcutta, India and went on to earn her
Master's of Arts from Maharaja Sayajirai University of Baroda in 1961.
She also continued her studies at the University of Iowa in the U.S.A.
receiving her Master's in Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers' Workshops in 1963
and her doctorate (PhD) from the department of Comparative Literature.
She married Clarke Blaise. The couple had two sons. The family lived for a
decade in Montreal and Toronto. In 1977 she and her husband published
Days and Nights in Calcutta. A decade later they wrote The Sorrow and the
Terror: The Haunting Legacy of the Air India Tragedy (Air India Flight 182).
She wrote many works of fiction and non-fiction while teaching at McGill
University, Montreal, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New Your, U.S.A.,
Queens College, New York City, U.S.A. and City University of New York before
joining the Berkeley campus if the University of California, U.S.A. Her 1988
work, The Middlemand and Other Stories, won the National Book Critics
Circle Award. |
Ethel Mulvany** / Mulvaney |
née Rogers.
Born December 22, 1904, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Died October 22, 1992,
Manitoulin Island. While still a teenager she was teaching in
a local primary school. She eventually moved to Toronto to attend formal
teacher training. She began working as a director of an arts and literary
society. In 1933 while on tour of Asia doing an educational survey she met
and married a British army doctor. In 1940 the couple were posted in
Singapore. While volunteering as an aide worker with the Australian Red
Cross she became a prisoner after the Japanese invasion on December 8, 1941
and was sent with 1300 other women to Changi prison. She kept the women busy
holding imaginary tea parties where the ladies pretended to be finely
dressed and dining on sumptuous dishes. This exercise stimulated salvia
glands helping stave off hunger pains. She also had the women quilting and
hiding notes in quilt squares that went to Prisoner of War camps where many
husbands where prisoners. Back in Canada after the war she completed an 800
page recipe cook book highlighting the war time tea party recipes that was
sold to raise funds for British Prisoner of War hospital patients. The
cookbook was republished in 2013 by the Manitoulin Historical Society. Her
biography was written by Suzanne Evans and called The Taste of Longing;
Ethel Mulvany and Her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook. ** her gravestone
spells the name Mulvaney. Source:
Lorraine Malinder.” Ether Roger Mulvany” in Canada’s History Magazine
August-September 2016.; Find a grave Canada online (accessed 2023) |
Alice Munro |
Née Laidlaw. orn July 10, 1931, Wingham, Ontario. Died
March 13, 2024, Port Hope, Ontario. Alice published her first short story in
1950 while a student at the University of Western Ontario (now Western
University), London, Ontario. She worked to help pay for her studies as a
waitress, tobacco picker, and library clerk. In 1951 she left her studies to
marry Eric James Munro and the couple settled in Vancouver and then
Victoria, British Columbia where a book store was opened. The couple had
three children. Alice's short stories appear in magazines such as the New Yorker
and The Atlantic. She has collected her stories and published
numerous books of stories. A novel, Lives of Girls and Women, grew
from her short stories. She has received three Governor General’s awards for
her works. She also has won the Canada-Australia Literary Prize and the
Marion Engel Award in 1996. In 1972 she became divorced and in 1976 married
Gerald Fremlin (died 2013) and settled in Clinton, Ontario. Her writing
continued to bring the author numerous accolades. Some the awards of
recognition were in 1993 the Lorne Pierce Medal from the Royal Society of
Canada, in 2004 she earned the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction prize for
her work called Runaway. In 2009 she earned the Man Booker
International Prize for her writings. In 2013
she she became the first Canadian presented with the Nobel Prize in
Literature. Many of her stories have been translated into 13
different languages. In 2014 the Royal Canadian Mint issued a coin in her
honour and in 2015 Canada Post Corporation issued a stamp in honour of her
Nobel Prize. After her death her daughter wrote that she had been
abused sexually in 1976 by her stepfather husband Gerald Fremlin, when she
was nine years old. Alice had stayed with her husband even after she knew
about the mistreatment of her daughter. For the last decade of her
life she had dementia.
|
Louisa Annie
Murray |
Born May 24, 1918, Carisbrooke, England.
Died July 27,1894, Stamford, Ontario. Louisa emigrated to Canada in 1844 with her family and they
became pioneers on Wolfe Island near Kingston, Ontario. She taught school as
a young woman. She began to write with the encouragement of a neighbors.
With the endorsement of Susanna Moodie her work Fauna, or the red flower of
leafy Hollow appeared in the Literary Garland magazine in 1851 in serial
format. She persevered publishing perils and loss of work to become the
major Canadian prose writer of the 1870's. She also published a small number
of poems. |
Elizabeth
Rose Murray 4343 |
Born 1941?, Collingwood, Ontario. Died July 24, 2023,
Cambridge, Ontario. Rose
graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
She went on to teach high school English for several years before becoming
marring Kent Murray and becoming a a stay at home mother for her two
daughters. Her interest in cooking took her to formal studies in Cordon Bleu
in Paris, France, La Varenne and Ecole de Gastronomie Française
Ritz-Escoffier as well as classes in Costa Rica, Hong Kong , and Thailand.
She also travelled across Canada studying food and culture of her homeland.
She fished for salmon on the West coast, enjoyed sharing suppers in northern
Saskatchewan, gathered wild rice in northern Ontario, picked berries in the
Gaspé and dug clams in Prince Edward Island. Beginning in 1979 Rose
published her first cook book called The Christmas Cookbook and which
would be reprinted many times. She would write for various magazines
and newspapers, including Canadian Living, Elm Street, Homemakers, City
and Country Homes, Family Magazine, Harrowsmith, Epicure, Australian
Woman's Day, London Magazine, The Globe and Mail and regular columns in
the Toronto Star and the Cambridge Reporter. She appeared on
television and helped to teach the new generations of chefs at Canadian
culinary schools, including her her own cooking school in Kitchener,
Ontario. She published 11 books two of which, Canada's Favourite
Recipes and Hungry for Comfort won the Taste of Canada Gold
Award. In 1994 she earned the Bernice Adams Memorial Award for
Communications/Literary Arts. In 2009 she was presented with the Gold Award
from the Ontario Hostelry Institute and the following yea she received the
Cambridge Y W C A Woman of Distinction Award for Culture. In 2012 she
earned the Culinary Historians of Canada Hall of Fame Award for her lifetime
achievement in Canadian culinary writing. June 18, 2014 she received an
award in the literary category at the Arts Awards Waterloo Region.
Source; Obituary. online (accessed 2023) |
Mitiarjuj Nappaaluk
Inuk Writer |
Born
1931, Kangiqusujuaq, Quebec. Died 2007. An esteemed story teller whose stories and legends
have been broadcast for years on the CBC radio she draws on her traditional
upbringing. She had her feet firmly planted in both the traditions of her
people and the modern worlds. As an author she is the
1st author to
write a novel in the Inuktitul language, Sanaaq.
The book was not published until 1984 and the French
edition was published in 2002 and an English edition was published in 2014.
She has translated the Roman
Catholic Book of Prayer into Inuktitut so that her people my learn in
their own language. She has compiled an encyclopedia of traditional Inuit
knowledge, legends and natural history so that the traditional spoken
knowledge may be passed to all who seek knowledge of the unique culture of
her people. In 1999 she received an National Aboriginal Achievement Award
for her contributions to heritage and spirituality. In 2004 she was named a
Member of the Order of Canada. (2019) |
Muriel Elizabeth Newton-White
|
SEE - Artists - Illustrators |
Marie Nightengale
4046 |
Born 1928, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died March 15, 2014,
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Marie began a radio career at C F A B-AM in Windsor,
Nova Scotia. In 1951 she married Laurie Nightingale and the couple had three
sons. Marie worked as a food columnist with the Halifax Chronicle Herald
newspaper, The Mail Star, and was founding food editor for
Saltscapes magazine. She was the author of Out of Old Nova Scotia
Kitchens which provided history and recipes, in 1970. The book was an
instant success. In 2011 she received she received a Canadian Culinary
Landmarks Hall of Fame Award for the book and for her contribution to the
country's culinary history. In 1994 she earned the Edna Award from
Cuisine Canada for her promotion of regional cuisine. Thirty years later
after her first book she published in 2003 Cooking With Friends. Her writing
are part of the Culinary Archival Collection at the University of Guelph,
Ontario. Source: Obituary, The Globe and Mail,
April 7, 2014. |
Ellen Kyle Noel
4273 |
née Kyle. Born December 22, 1815, Ireland. Died
June 20, 1873, Kingston, Ontario. In 1832 she immigrated to live in
Brockville, Upper Canada (now Ontario, in 1832. A year later she
married John Vavasour Noel (1806?-1874). Several years later they
settled in Savannah, Georgia, U.S.A. where Ellen ran a ladies' seminary.
In the mid 1800's the family returned to Canada. She published a book of
stories which had previously ran as serials in Montreal and Toronto
periodicals. She used the name Mrs. J. V. Noel as her pen name. Her
daughter Ellen Vavasour Noel (1836-1902) published some fictional works
in periodicals and contributed a brief essay to her mother's book,
The Abbey of Rathmore and Other Tales in 1859. Two additional companion
novels were also published. (2023) |
Ellen Juanna Vavasour Noel
4273 |
Born August 4, 1836, Kingston, Upper Canada
(now Ontario). Died February 20, 1902, Chatham, Ontario. A few years after
her birth the family moved to Savannah, Georgia, U.S.A. where her
mother Ellen Kyle Noel ran a ladies' seminary. By the mid 1850's the family
was back in Canada. Ellen Vavasour published stories in serial format in
such publications at the Canadian Illustrated News in Hamilton,
Ontario and Montreal Quebec, at the Saturday Reader magazine. In 1859
she contributed an essay to her mother's book. Source: E C W
W (accessed 2023) |
Marianna O'Gallagher |
SEE - Academics - Historians |
Margaret O'Hara |
SEE - Medical Professionals - Physicians |
Mari O'Nair |
SEE - Constance May Evans |
Martha Ostenso |
Born September 6, 1900, Bergen, Norway. Died
1963. Martha came with her family to Canada in 1902. She was educated in a Winnipeg high school and the University of
Manitoba. She continued her education at Columbia University, New York City,
U.S.A. While she taught school she worked on her 1st novel,”
Wild Geese” in1925. She spent time as a reporter, and a social worker
but still found room for her writings.
She would complete another novel. She married Douglas Durken and the
couple settled in the U.S.A. She collaborated with sister Elizabeth Kenny to
publish a biography called The Shall Walk in 1943. The book was later made
into a movie. |
Jeannine Ouellette |
Born June 4,
1958, Kapuskasing, Ontario. Jeannine attended the bilingual University of Ottawa
were she earned a B.A. in Psychology followed by a Masters Degree in
education. While at University she worked as a movie reviewer for the campus
radio on Ellspace, a program for women on campus. On December 22,
1979 she married Guy Théroux of Kapuskasing and the couple settled in
Ottawa. She was a contributed to the national women’s magazine Femmes
d’action from the Fédération nationale des femmes Canadiennes-francaises
for the years. She is the co-founder of the Action Group Against Violence
Against Women in Northern Ontario. She Supervised the production of TFO’s
series on children who grow up in violent homes, S.O.S. Géneration en
détresse and co-wrote the teacher’s guide which accompanied the television
series. She has published a book on women’s learning with the University of
Ottawa Press, Les femmes en milieu universitarie: liberté d’apprendre
outrement. in 2000 the book won the Laura Jamieson Prize from the Canadian
Institute for the Advancement of research on Women for the best feminist
book by a Canadian author. She was the host of the Télèvision Rogers cable
program D’hier à aujourd’hui on local Ottawa television. The program combined
her interest in history and enjoyment in teaching people about their past.
In 2008 she began a blog highlighting the accomplishments of milestones and
mentoring women of Ottawa throughout it’s history. Embracing further the
medium of the internet Jeanne has also begun in 2012 a blog highlighting the
women of Northern Ontario along highway 11: Les femmes de la route 11: Elles du Nord.
Source: Personal contact with Jeannine Ouellette, Ottawa,
Ontario. (2020) |
Laura Bryne Paquet |
Laura holds a bachelor of
journalism from Carleton University, Ottawa. She worked for a few years as a
business reporter and as a junior magazine editor prior to becoming a
freelance writer. Years ago she heard that National Geographic magazine did
not hire travel writers but writers who travel and she thought why
not. I love to travel. She has not only written about traveling but she has
also written about a scientist who studies the sleeping habits of lemurs and
a non-profit group that trains at-risk young people to work in restaurants.
She has written for more than 80 publications and websites in Canada and
elsewhere. Her article have appeared not only in National
Geographic Traveler but also in enRoute, Trivago, The Huffington
Post, Dreamscapes, Forbes, and newspapers like the Toronto Star,
The Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen, and the
Washington Post. Laura has also spoken about travel and other topics on
TVOntario, CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup, and CTV Morning Live.
the She has written or co-authored 13 books including Wanderlust: A
Social History of Travel and The Environment in
Contemporary Africa. |
Uma Parameswaran |
Born 1935, Madras, India. As a child she enjoyed reading. As a youth she
read and studied the Greek classic plays. Winninag Smith-Mundt Fulbright
Scholarship she studied literature at Indiana University earning her
master’s degree in creative writing. She moved to Winnipeg Manitoba in 1966
and continued her university studies at the Michigan State University
receiving her PhD in 1972. She is married and has one daughter and the
family has settled in with Dr. Uma working as a professor at the University
of Winnipeg. She began her professional writing career in 1962 producing an
historical drama. In 1967 her writings won the Lady Eaton Award. In 1980 her
work was awarded the Caribe Playwriting Completion first prize. Her
collection of short stories What Was Always Hers won both the New
Muse Award and the Jubilee Award. During her work, writing career and family
responsibilities she has also found time to return service to the writers
world by working with several boards and committees including the Status of
Women Writers Committee, the Board of Immigrant Women’s Association of
Manitoba and as president of the Manitoba’s Writers Guild. Obviously she
enjoys nothing more than being creatively busy.
Sources; Uma
Parameswaran web site at the University of Winnipeg. (accessed May 2008)
|
Jean Paré |
Born December 7,
1927, Irma, Alberta. When she was a child the family relocated to Edmonton,
Alberta. In 1946 Jean married for the 1st time to Clarence Lovig. In 1959
they relocated to Vermilion, Alberta where the couple owned and operated an
auction house.
The
couple had two children and became divorced in the mid 1960's. She opened a
small cafe in Vermilion to support her family. She married her second
husband Larry Paré
and became step mother to his three children. She worked as a caterer and
people began to request her recipes which led her to publish her 1st cook
book in 1981. She co-founded Company's Coming Publishing Ltd. and she has
authored more than 200 cookbooks in her own down to earth style. As her
brand grew the company test kitchen and office moved to Edmonton.
After selling 30,000,000 cookbooks she retired in February 2011. Jean was
also a principal shareholder of C O M A C Food Group which owned Company's
Coming Cafes, Grabbajabba Specialty Coffee, Pastels Cafes and the Canadian
rights to Domino's Pizza franchise. She would donated her personal
collection of 6,700 cookbooks, amassed while traveling the world, were
donated to the University of Guelph in Ontario. The cookbooks represented
local church, ladies auxiliary, and organization fund raising cookbooks
which were the backbone of homemaking. In 2004 she was inducted into the
Order of Canada.
(2019) |
Ema Paris |
Born Toronto Ontario. Ema earned
her BA from the University of Toronto in 1960. After graduation she left and
traveled to France to continue studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. She began
her career as a journalist writing for magazines. She earned a feature
writing award from the Media Club of Canada in 1970 and 1974 and
for radio documentary work in 1973 and 1974. In 1981 she was recognized for
Best book in 1981 and again twenty years later. April 26, 1981 she married
Thomas More Robinson and the couple have two children. In 1983 she won
the Gold Medal from the National Magazine Awards. In 1990 she won Best
Canadian Essay from Fifth House Press for her work The Boat People.
In 1996 she was recognized three times by the Canadian Jewish Book Awards.
In 2000 she earned Best Book acclaim from the Globe and Mail
newspaper and in 2001 she earned the Pearson Writer's Trust Non-fiction
Prize, the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, the Dorothy
Shoichet Prize for History, the Christian Science Monitor Best Books, and
the New Statesman Best books. In 2002 she was a Visiting Fellow with the
International Affairs Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder
Colorado, U.S.A. Her multi prize winning book Long Shadows: Truth, Lies
and History was listed with the Literary Review of Canada in the 100
Most Important Books Ever Written up to 2004. In 2008 and 2009 she was Vic
Chair of tf the Writer's Union of Canada and Chair in 2009 . 2010. In 2009
she was appointed Honorary Council of the Canadian Centre for International
Justice, Ottawa. She earned the Canada World Peace Award from the World
Federalist Movement-Canada. In 2015 she was appointed as a Member of the
Order of Canada. (2019) |
Ellanore Jane Parker |
SEE - Medical Professionals - Nurses |
Pat Muriel Welsh Patterson |
SEE - Writers - Journalists, Broadcasters, and Editors |
Nanci M Pattenden |
Nanci is a professional
genealogist who, while searching her family story found a relative who came
to Canada and was involved in a murder trial. This discovery sent her off on
a writing spree. Nanci has taken the creative writing program from Calgary
University and holds a Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogy. She
is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and the Writing Community of York
Region. Her books as set in Toronto in the Victoria era of 1874-1899 and are
all based on actual events. Her 1st novel in 2014 was Body in the Harbour
and by 208 there were six move books such as Corpses for Christmas and Death
on Duchess Street. (2019) |
Lise Payette |
SEE - Politicians |
Kathleen 'Kit' Margaret
Pearson |
Born April 30, 1947, Edmonton,
Alberta. Kit family relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia where she grew
up. She earned her BA from the University of Alberta, Edmonton and returned
to attend the University of British Columbia to earn her post graduate
degree in Library Science. She began her library career in Ontario. She went
on to earn a second Master's at Simmons College Centre for the Study of
Children's Literature, Boston, Massacheutts, U.S.A. Back in Vancouver she
published her 1st novel, The Daring Game in 1986.
Her book Awake and Dreaming won the Governor General's Award in Literature.
Her books have also been recognized with the Vicky Metcalf Award, Mr.
Christie's Book Award, The Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for
two of her books and the Children's Book of the Year Award, which she had
earned three times. in 2019 her 15th book was published, Be my love. Kit
lives with her life partner in Victoria, British Columbia.
(2019) |
Hélène Pedneault
3744 |
Born April 14, 1952, Jonquière, Quebec. Died December 1,
2008, Montreal, Quebec. Hélène studied literature at the Cégep de Jonquière.
She would go on tot become a well known feminist writer and playwright. In
1988 she published the play La Déposition which had been translated in five
languages and been staged in New York, Paris, Amsterdam, London, and Rome.
She documented the history of the women's movement in the province of Quebec
in a series entitled 'Chronique Délinquante' in the magazine La Vie en
Rose. She was also published in Elle (Quebec), Focus,
Dérives, Les Cahiers de a femme, Possibles, JEU, Guide ressource, and many other magazines. In 1992 she was awarded the Prix
Edgar-L'espérance for her book La Douler de vocan. She would pen the
words to the feminist song 'Du pain et des roses/ Bread and roses' for the
1995 world march of women in Quebec. It was in the 1990's that she
wrote several plays for television and Radio Canada. In 2000 she earned the
Prix littéraires du Salon du livre du Sagueanay-Lac-Saint-Jean. In 2004 she
was presented with the Prix Abitibi-Consolidated. She was also a staunch
supporter of Quebec separatism. She was a well known lecturer throughout
Quebec and New Brunswick. In the spring of 2003 she presented a show
celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Council of the Status of Women. In
2009 she was awarded posthumously the Prix Patriote de l'année from
the Société-Saint Jean-Babtiste de Montreal. (2022)
|
Tshaukuesh 'Elizabeth' Penashue |
SEE - Social Activists |
Louise Penny |
Born 1958, Toronto, Ontario.
Growing up Louise was an avid reader who was encouraged to read by her
mother. Louise grew particularly fond of mysteries both fiction and real.
Louise earned he Bachelor of Applied Arts from Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute (now Ryerson University) in 1979. She began her career as a radio
host and journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Traveling for her work she felt alone and isolated and turned to alcohol to
cope. At 35 she was able to admit she had a problem and began a life of
sobriety. She Married Michael Whitehead on a blind date. In the late 1990's
Penny left the CBC and wrote a historical novel. It was not long before she
began writing mystery novels. Her 1st novel called Still Live came second in
a field of 800 entries in a British writing competition and went on to win
the New Blood Dagger un England and the Canadian Arthur Ellis Award for Best
1st Crime Novel, the Dulys Award, the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for
Best 1st Novel in the United States. Her novels with Chief Inspector Armand
Gamache are set in Quebec. In 2007, 2008 2010, 2012, and 2013, the Inspector
helped her earn an Agatha Award. Her books have also earned Edgar Awards,
Macavity Awards, Anthony Awards, and Arthur Ellis Awards. In 2009, Penny
helped to launch a new award for aspiring Canadian mystery writers, the
Unchanged Arthur for Best Unpublished 1st Novel. In 2013 she was inducted
into the order of Canada in part for shining the spotlight on her home area
in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Her 1st two novels have become made for
TV movies. By 2019 16 novels have featured the Inspector.
(2020) |
Olive MacKay Petersen
4903 |
née
MacKay. Born 1907, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Died 1987. While a student at
Acadia University in Nova Scotia she wrote for the student magazine the
Athenaeum. She graduated in 1929 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She
found herself searching for a career and attempted nursing and journalism
but neither profession really caught her attention for long. Instead she
took to the call for adventure and with a close friend too off to Northern
Quebec. By the end of the 1930’s she married a Danish prospector Reinhold
‘Pete’ Petersen. The couple would have two sons. The travelled and lived,
mainly in the bush in primitive conditions, across Northern Quebec and
Northern Ontario from Rouyn Noranda to the spring of 1951 when the family
settled Swastika, Ontario.. Once settled, she became active in the local
church and helped organize the first Kirkland Lake Museum. She also became
the local librarian. Olive began writing sending articles to
Canadian,
American and British magazines. From 1963 to 1967 she was the editor of The
Northland
for the Anglican
Diocese of
Moosonee, Ontario. In 1974 she published The Land of the Moosoneek
and followed it in 1981 with The Vanishing Prospector which was an
autobiographical record of her live beginning in Rouyn-Noranda in 1938
through the years in Swastika.
Source:
Voices of our Past, Looking to our Future: The Women of Kirkland Lake,
Museum of Northern History, 2012, Online (accessed 2025);Ship Hector
passenger descendant of Hugh Weaver Fraser and Sophia McPherson, Passenger
Descendants1773-2023, Online (accessed 2025); Not on Find a Grave 2025 |
Penny
Seraphine/Serafina Petrone
4849 |
Born 1925, Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay),
Ontario. Died August 22, 2005, Vancouver,
British Columbia. Penny graduated from the North Bay Normal School
(teacher’s school) and taught in one-room school in the Port Arthur Area.
Penny would continue her education at university and receive her doctorate
(PhD) from the University of Alberta. Her doctoral research on Isabella
Valancy Crawford (1846-1887) would result in her publishing two books on the
poet. She went on published two books on Indigenous literature with her work
Native Literature in Canada being the first full length history of the
writings of Indigenous peoples in Canada. These works were
recognized when she became a honourary chief of the Gull Bay First Nations.
In 1981, 1984 and again in 1989 she received the City of Thunder Bay
Citizens of Exceptional Achievement Awards. In 1988 she earned a teaching
award from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations. In
1889 she received the first Distinguished Teacher Award from Lakehead
University. In 1992 she was presented with the Order of Canada and received
the Canada 125th Commemoration of Canadian Confederation Award. In
1994 she received L’Ordine d’onore from the National Congress of Italian
Canadians. After her retirement from teaching at Lakehead University she
wrote two memoirs, Breaking the Mould in 1995
and Embracing Serefina in 2000. In
2002 she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Golden Jubilee Medal and
the F. G. Bressani Literary Award, which honours Canadian Writers of Italian
descent. In 2004 she received the Kouhi Award for her outstanding
contribution to writing in Northwestern Ontario. Her last book was called
Schoolmarm was published in 2007 She was a member of various organizations
including the Ontario Arts Council, the Canadian Council of the arts and the
Canadian Federation of University Women.. After her death Magnus Theatre in
Thunder Bay assed to its name The Dr. S. Penny Petrone Centre for the
Performing arts in honour of her contributions to the arts. She provided
one million dollars in scholarship and bursaries for Lakehead students at
the Northern Ontario School of Medicine where the Dr. Serafina
Penny Petrone Health Information Resource Centre in named in her honour. Her
papers are maintained in the Lakehead University Archives.
Source: Women's History Month, City of Thunder Bay,
Online (accessed 2024); Obituary, August 2005, online (accessed 2024) |
Josephine Phelan 4024 |
Born 1905, Hamilton, Ontario. Died 1979. Josephine graduated
from the University of Toronto (U of T) earning a Master of History degree,
She then attended the Ontario College of Education and taught high school.
Relocating to Montreal she worked in publishing. By 1931 she was bat
at the U of T earning a graduate degree in Library Science. From 1932
through 1965 she worked at the Toronto Public Library. In 1951 her first
book The Ardent Exile, a biography of Thomas D'Arcy McGee (1825-1868)
earned a Governor General's Award for English language non fiction. She also
wrote The Boy Who Ran Away: Great Stories of Canada in 1954 which she
followed two years later with The Bold Heart: The Story of Father
Lacombe. Her last book, The Ballad of D'Arcy McGee: Rebel in Exile
was published in 1967. (2022) |
Marlene Nourbese/ NourbeSe Philip |
SEE - Poets |
Marjorie
Lowry Christie Pickthall
|
SEE - Poets |
Katherine Pinkerton |
Born June 9, 1887, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. Died
September 6, 1967, New York City, New York, U.S.A. In 1909 Katherine
graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Wisconsin in
Milwaukee and for a time had a career as a social worker. On March 24, 1911
she married a writer , Robert E. Pinkerton and the couple settled in a cabin
in the wilderness of Northern Ontario. They learned to live in the
wilderness
surviving with the closest town eight miles away accessible by canoe in the
summer or by dogsled in the winter. They wrote of their lives and sent
article to wilderness magazines. It was in northern Ontario that their only
child, a daughter, was born. In 1917 the family were in Colorado and then
California before settling to life on a houseboat off the shores of British
Columbia. In 1922 Katherine had begun to concentrate on writing short
stories and novels. In 1939 she published Wilderness Wife based on their
lives in Northern Ontario. The next year she published A Crew of Three and
for the third year in a row she published another book Two Ends to Our
Shoestring. In all she would publish 11 books between 1939 and 1962.
(2018) |
Mary
Sharon Pollock |
née Chalmers. Born April 19, 1936, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Died April 22, 2021, Calgary, Alberta. As a child Sharon loved to read and
enjoyed history. After being caught for being truant she was sent to King's
Hall (now Bishop's College School), an Anglican private school Here she and
a friend created the 'Secret Two Club' and vowed to become writers. She
attended the University of New Brunswick and was active in the Drama
Society. She eloped with Ross Pollock and by 1956 they had their first
child. The family settled in Toronto. Four more children soon joined
the family. In 1962 Sharon joined a Toronto theatre group and directed high
school students. By 1964 she had left her abusive husband and she returned
with the children back to New Brunswick. She worked with the Playhouse Box
Office and along with the University of New Brunswick Dram Society formed
The Company of Ten performing show. She followed Michael Ball
when he accepted a position at the University of Calgary. She began touring
with The Prairie Players gong to small towns in Alberta. In 1967 she joined
the Mac 14 Theatre Society which was the founding company of Theatre
Calgary. In 1967 her sixth child was born to her and Michael. It was at this
time she determined to write Canadian Plays. Her first published play, A
compulsory Option, won the 1971 Alberta Playwriting Competition. After
teaching at several western Canadian institutions she became, in 1984, the
first woman artistic director of a major western Canadian theatre. She has
written several plays of children as well as TV and radio scripts. Her play
DOC earned her the 1986 Governor General's Award. Multiple
awards followed including a Japan Foundation Award in 1995, the Harry and
Martha Cohen Award for contributions to Calgary Theatre in 1999 and in 2007
becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She was also inducted into
the Order of Canada. (2024) |
Agnes Helen Fogwill
Porter |
née Wright. Born May 7, 1930, St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Helen attended the Prince of Wales, St John's, Newfoundland and
worked as a typist with the provincial Department of Justice.
In 1953 she married John Porter and the couple had four children. She
began her writing career in 1962 and devoted herself full time to
writing in 1973. She began her writing career by publishing short
stories, article, reviews and poetry in various magazines such as
MacLean's, Chatelaine, the Star Weekly and Saturday
Night. In 1977 she collaborated with Bernice Morgan
and Geraldine Rubia on writing From this Place, an anthology
from women writers of Newfoundland and Labrador. Between 1975 and
1985 she too an interest in politics and ran for election with the
New Democratic Party four times. Her 1st novel, January,
February, June of July was published in 1988 and won the Young
Adult Book Award from the Canadian Library Association in 1989. She
taught at Memorial University in Newfoundland from 1979 through
1991. She worked with the Visiting Arts' Program where she
would visit schools throughout the province to impart a sense of
literature to school children. She also worked with projects that
put poetry inside public transit busses not only in Newfoundland but
also in Alberta. She is a founding member of the Newfoundland Status
of Women Council. She received the Newfoundland and
Labrador Arts Council Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. In 2003 the
New Democratic Party of Newfoundland set up the Helen Fogwill Porter
Fund to aid women seeking to run as an NDP representative. In 2015
she was inducted in the Order of Canada. |
Rosa Portlock
|
née Elliott. Born 1839, England. Died 1928. She emigrated to
Canada in 1871. She married William Portlock. It was not until after the
death of her husband in 1893 that she began to consider publishing her works
which were mainly autobiographical in nature. The Head Keeper (Toronto,
1898) and 25 years of Canadian Life (Toronto, 1901). |
Mildred Claire Pratt 4468 |
Born March 18, 1925, Toronto, Ontario. Died
April 5, 1995, Toronto, Ontario. Claire was the only child of the poet E. J.
Pratt. She contracted polio as a child and between 1925 to 1936 she suffered
numerous operations on her right leg. She graduated from Victoria College,
University of Toronto despite health problems and continued her education at
Columbia University, New York City, U.S.A. In 1944 she and a friend started
the Book Truck which wnet on to become the Claire Pratt Book Service from
1947 through 1950. She worked as an editor for Harvard University Press
1951-1954. In 1954 she spine was fused and she spent 20 months in a body
cast! She worked with McClelland & Stewart publishers from 1955 for the next
decade working with some of the best known authors of the time. Her own
published books including Haiku in 1965, a history of the Pratt
Family, The Silent Ancestors, in 1971 and in 1975 more poems titled,
The Music of Oberon. She was also and artist of woodcuts and
wood carvings with her works being exhibited throughout North America in the
1960's and 1970's. She was active with Amnesty International and the Women's
Legal Education and Action Fund. (2024) |
Viola Leone Pratt 4469 |
née Whitney. Born 1893, Atherley, Ontario. Died
September 6, 1984, Toronto, Ontario. Viola graduated from Victoria College,
University of Toronto and went on to attend the Ontario College of
Education. She married poet Edwin John Dove Pratt (1883-1964) on August 20,
1918 and the couple had one daughter. Viola managed the house and home and
also assisted her husband with the production of the Canadian Poetry
Magazine. She also aided in his research. For many years she was an editor
at the United Church Publishing House in Toronto and was the founding editor
of the United Church children's Magazine World Friends wich ran from 1929 to
1955. She also published her own books including Famous Doctors: Osler,
Banting, Penfield published in 1956 and Journeying with the Year for the
Women's Missionary Society of the United Church of Canada in 1957. She also
wrote and had published short stories for young readers. She was interested
in the study of comparative religious, a social activist, and a popular
public speaker. (2924) |
Bertha Maud Maria Weston Price
3660 |
née Weston. Born January 6, 1872, Island Brook, Quebec. Died
September 3, 1955, Sherbrooke, Quebec. Although Bertha's family was English
speaking, the children were also fluent in French. In 1892 Bertha married George
Price (1868-1962) and the couple settled in Sherbrooke. The couple raised
five children. Bertha taught music and lead a youth orchestra as well as
performing with two of her children. She was also known for writing articles
and children's stories, and was particularly interested in local legends. In
1923 she published Legends of Our Lakes and expanded this in 1927 with
Legends of Our Lakes and Rivers. With a friend, Maude Pellerin, she
produced a book of poetry. She wrote for the Sherbrooke Daily Record and
collected an published a series of articles on local history which had
appeared in the newspaper. She was a member of the Canadian Authors
Association and the Canadian Women's Press Club.
Source: ECWW online (accessed 2022) |
Rainbow Bright |
SEE
- Jessie
Louise
Beattie |
Janis Rapoport |
Born 1946, Toronto, Ontario. In 1966 she married Dr. David Seager in 1966. The couple had
three children. In 1967 she earned a B.A. in Philosophy from the University
of Toronto.. She married Douglas Donegani in 1980, they had a daughter and
became divorced in 2003. In 2003 she married Fernando Miranda Arregui. She
has been Associate Editor of Tamarack Review (1970- 82), Editor of
Ethos (1983-86), Playwright-in-Residence (1974-75), and
Writer-in-Residence at several Ontario libraries (1987 -1991). She also
worked as a literary and television editor, and as an instructor at the
University of Toronto. Her writings have garnered several awards including:
the New York Art Directors Club Award of Merit in 1983, the American
Institute of Graphic Arts Certificate of Excellence in 1983, the American
Poetry Association Award in 1986, a Canada Council Arts Award in 1991, a
Toronto Arts Council Award in 1990 and 1992, and an Ontario Arts Council
Work-in-Progress Grant in 1995. Her articles have been published in Canadian
magazines and newspapers, and her writing has been anthologized in four
languages.
Source: Janice Rapport
Collection, E.J. Pratt Library, University of Victoria Campus, University of
Toronto. Online (accessed July 2013).Submitted by
Jeanne Ouellette, Ottawa, Ontario. |
Alice Ravenhill |
SEE - Social Activists |
Kathleen
'Kathy' Joan
Toelle
Reichs
|
Born July 7, 1948, Chicago,
Illinois, U.S.A. In 1968 she married Paul Reichs and the couple have two
daughters. Kathy earned her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from American
University, Washington D. C., U.S.A. in 1971 and by 1972 she had completed
her Master's degree at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.
followed by achieving a PhD from Northwestern in 1975. An adjunct professor
of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte she is on
indefinite leave since 2016. She has also taught at Northwestern, Northern
Illinois University, University of Pittsburgh in the U.S. and in Canada at
Concordia and McGill University. She is certified by the American Board of
Forensic Anthropology and on the Board of Directors of the American Academy
of Forensic Sciences. She is affiliated with the Laboratoire des sciences
judiciaires et de Médecine Légale in the province of Quebec.
She was a member of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team which
assisted at the World Trade Centre disaster 9/11/2001. She is well known as
an author not only of scientific papers and books but of of forensic novels
and was a producer for the TV series Bones which featured the
character Temperance Brennan who was loosely based on her popular novels.
Her 1st novel Déjà Dead won the Author Ellis Award for Best First Novel
in 1997. Her books are set in the background of the province of Quebec.
By 2019 she had published 21 novels often based on her own experiences
which have been translated into 30 languages. She has also written young
adult novels in a series called Virals. Kathy Reichs is a Member of
the Order of Canada.(2020) |
Helen Richmond Young Reid |
SEE - Social Activists |
Kati Rekai |
Born October 20, 1921, Budapest,
Hungary. Died February 1, 2010, Toronto, Ontario. Kati was the part of the
weekly CIAO Radio show The Hungarian Show and was the arts
commentator for Chin Radio. As a print journalist she was a
columnist for Kaleidoscope Magazine and a
contributor for the Performing Arts and Entertainment Magazine.
She served as the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Writers
Union of Canada and Vice President of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association.
She served on numerous board including the Toronto International Exchange,
the Canadian Scene Multi-language News Service and the Hungarian Canadian
Chamber of Commerce. She was the author of travel books for children that
introduced young readers not only about Canadian cities but also to European
countries through the of for animals. Her works garnered her numerous
awards including being a Knight in the Order of St. Ladislaus, the Cross of
the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary for her contribution to the
development of Canadian-Hungarian Cultural Relations. In 1993 she was
appointed to the Order of Canada. |
Gwendolyn Ringwood |
née
Phares. Born August 13, 1910, Anatone, Washington U.S.A. Died May 24, 1984.
In 1941 she received the Governor General's Award for outstanding service to
Canadian drama. She was the first Canadian playwright to publish a volume of
collected plays in 1982. |
Constance Ringwood |
Born 1943? New York City, New York, U.S.A. Died October 2008 Toronto,
Ontario. She attended Smith College, Tulane University and the University of
North Carolina where she earned a PhD. While at university she met her
husband Leon Rook. They married in 1969 and the couple had one son.
Relocating to British Columbia she taught English and edited the Malahat
Review at the University of Victoria. In 1979 she initiated the women’s
study program at the university and went on to become academic
Vice-president. In 1988 she joined the staff of the English Department at
the University of Guelph in Ontario. She was the founding director of the
Master of fine arts program in creative writing at the university and went
on to become associate vice-president in 1994. In 1989 the couple founded
the Eden Mills Writer’s Festival. The Festival is held the first weekend
after Labour Day each year. That year she published Fear of the Open
Heart: Essays on Contemporary Canadian Writing. In 1999 she became
president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba. In
2002 the family moved to Toronto. From 2005 through 2007 she served as
president of PEN Canada where she created fundraisers for the writer’s
organization dedicated to freedom of expression. In 2005 she earned the
Gemini Prize for her short stories. |
Gretchen Roedde |
SEE - Medical - Physicians |
Catherine Sheldrick Ross |
SEE - Academics - Librarians |
Ellen Ross |
née McGregor. Born Banff, Scotland. Died 1892. She emigrated
to Canada with her second husband. When let a widow by the death of her
husband she turned to writing to support herself. She had numerous articles
and stories published in various Canadian and American magazines. She als
published some 4 books between 1868 and 1878. . These included: Violet
Keith (Toronto, 1868) ; Wreck of the White Bear (Montreal, 1871)
; A Legend of the Grand Gordons ( Montreal, 1873) and Legend of
the Holy Stones ( Montreal, 1878) |
Margaret Ross |
Born July 5, 1845 Middlesex County, Canada West (now Ontario).
Died February 9, 1935. She is chiefly remembered for her biography of her
brother who was premier of the province of Ontario from 1898-1904. The
book was called. Sir George W. Ross: A Biographical Study (Toronto, 1923)
|
Gabrielle Roy |
Born March 22, 1909, Saint Boniface, Manitoba. Died July 13, 1983,
Quebec City, Quebec.
After high school Gabrielle attended Winnipeg Norma School (teacher's college) and
taught in rural schools before she was appointed to Provencher School in
Saint Boniface. Just prior to World War ll (1939-1945) she traveled in Europe
before the war forced her to return home. Settling in Quebec she earned her
living as a sketch artist finding time to write while working. Her first novel
Bonheur d'occasion appeared in 1945 and won for her the Prix Femina in 1947.
The book was translated and published in English as the Tin Flute winning
the 1st of three Governor General's Award in Literature. The book also won
the Lorne Pierce Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. Wishing to avoid the
publicity of her successful book Gabrielle returned to Manitoba. In August
1947 she married a Saint Boniface doctor, Marcel Carbotte. A three time winner of the Governor General’s Award
in Literature as well as international award holder, she is one of
the most important Canadian writers of the post World War II Era in
Canada. Some of her works have been translated into 15 different
languages. In 1967 she became a Companion of the Order of Canada. Her
autobiography, La Détresse et l'enchantement was published posthumously and
translated in 1984. The movie
Tramp at the Door is dedicated to her
and supposedly depicts her childhood. On September 29, 2004, the
Bank of Canada issued a
$20 bank note in the
Canadian Journey Series which included a
quotation from her 1961 book
The Hidden Mountain (La Montagne secrète),
and its English translation by Harry Binsse: 'Could we ever know each
other in the slightest without the arts?" |
Thelma Ruck-Keene |
Born January 9, 1916, Uxbridge, England. At 16 she worked in the foreign
office at various secretarial positions which took her to postings in
Budapest, Athens, Cairo and Beirut before she ended back in London in 1944.
She married in 1947 . By 1966 she was divorced and came to Canada where she
found work in the Library at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. Leaving
her job she opened a unique craft and book shop, the Canadian Craft Store.
Wishing to be closer to her son she moved to the West coast of Canada where
she became involved with a peace movement wanting to ban nuclear bombs. She
also began a close relationship with the Circle Craft Co-operative and
Gallery. She produced the Craft Circle newsletter as the organization grew
to cover the province of British Columbia. In 2006 she published an
autobiographical book that included her post WW ll exploits, called The
Handkerchief Drawer. (Trafford Publishing, 2006)
.
Sources: First Generation by Nancy Knickerbooker, Vancouver Asia
Pacific Imitative, 1990 |
Jane Rule
LGBTQ author |
née Vance.
Born March 28, 1931, Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.A. Died November 27, 2007,
Galiano Island, British Columbia. During the Second World War (1939-1945) her family
moved around various army basis before finally settling in San Francisco,
California, U.S.A.
Jane attended Mills College, Oakland, California and earned her Bachelor
of Arts. While
teaching at Concord Academy in Massachusetts in 1954 she met her lifelong
partner, author, and educator Helen Sonthoff. The couple moved to Vancouver
in 1956 and soon received their Canadian citizenship. She taught
periodically at the University of British Columbia while writing. Her first
novel, Desert of the Heart was published in 1964. In 1976 the couple settled
on Galiano Island off the west coast of British Columbia. Desert Hearts
became a movie in 1985 and was a ground breaking topic. In all she wrote a
dozen book including three short story collections as well as writing for
various high profile publications. For the gay liberationist newspaper The Body Politic
she wrotea regular column from 1979-1985. In 1998 she received the Order
of British Columbia and was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in
2007.
(2020) |
Olga Ruskin |
Born February. 23, 1887, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died October 12, 1953,
Vancouver, British Columbia. She attended the University of British Columbia
when it was connected to McGill University, Montreal. She left teaching to
marry Frederick James Rolston in 1909 and raised a family of three children. Tilly worked closely with many
associations and clubs including being a director of the Vancouver-based
Pacific National Exhibition, an Honorary President of the Women's Canadian
Club, president of the Oratorio Society, Quota Club, and the Travel Women's
Club. She was also the founding chairman of the Theatre Under the Stars,
board member of the YWCA auxiliary and of the Vancouver Symphony Society.
While a homemaker she continued her interest in politics and actually
entered politics as an elected Progressive Conservative Member of the
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in1941. In 1951 she sat as an
Independent for the remainder of the session. She became a supporter of
W.A.C. Bennett and in the 1952 B.C. election in Vancouver-Port Grey, she was
elected as a Social Credit candidate and named education minister. She was
the second woman in British Columbia to be appointed to the cabinet and the
first woman in all of Canada to hold a specific portfolio. She was a staunch
advocate education for every child. |
Eleanor Ann Saddlemyer |
Born
November 28, 1932, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Ann earned her BA
from the University of Saskatchewan, her Masters from Queen's
University, Kingston, Ontario, and her PhD from the University of
London, United Kingdom. This educator and author
is a professor at Massey College and the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama
and Victoria College at the University of Toronto. In 1976 she was
elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1986 she earned the
Rose Mary Crawshay Award from the British Academy and the following year she
became a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1989 the Association for
Canadian Theatre Research created the Ann Saddlemyer Award. Among the many
distinguished recognitions she was presented with were the 1994 YWCA
Toronto Woman of the Year Award and the Order of Canada. Her more
than one dozen published books have been related to drama and English
literature. She is considered a pioneer in the field of Irish
studies having published scholarly research in numerous
publications. She has been a welcome lecturer not only in North
America but also in Japan, China, Ireland,
and Australia. She is also an accomplished editor and member of several
editorial boards such as Theatre History in Canada/ Histoire du Théatre
au Canada of which she is a founding president. (2019) |
Mary Anne Sadlier |
née Madden Born December 31, 1820 Cootehill, Cavan County, Ireland. Died April 5, 1903
Montreal, Quebec.
Mary Anne emigrated to Canada in 1844 and
published her first works by subscription (where people sign up to purchase
a book before it is published.) on November 24, 1846 she married publisher James Sadlier.
They remained in Montreal where she continued to write and establish her
name as an author. While in Canada she wrote 18 books, five novels, one
collection of short stories, a religious catechism, and translated nine books
from the French language to English. She also contributed to Pilot
magazine and the American Celt Magazine. The family moved to New York,
U.S.A. but after her husband's
death she returned to Montreal. During her career she would publish some 60
volumes of work from domestic novels to historical romances to children's
catechisms. A friend of the assassinated author, poet, and Canadian politician, Thomas D'Arcy
McGee (1825-1868), she edited a book of his poems and had it published
posthumously in 1869, as a tribute to her friend. In 2008 she was
declared a National Historic Person of Canada. |
Rosemary Sadlier |
Born
Toronto, Ontario. Rosemary attended York University, Toronto for her
undergraduate studies and continued at the University of Toronto for post
graduate studies in Social work. She was dominant person in the 1995 push to
have the provincial and federal governments to declare February as Black
History month.
She has also had an active career outside of her history crusade,
particularly in the fields of education and social work. She has worked as a
school teacher and a hospital social worker and done volunteer work with
developmentally delayed adults, emotionally disturbed children, and recent
immigrants. She sat on Toronto's Ministry of Education Advisory Panel and
vetted the black history curriculum produced by Toronto's District School
Board. She was employed in the Women's Bureau of the Office of the Deputy
Premier, where she developed a series of programs to encourage women to
pursue training and employment in science fields. In 1993 she became
president of the Ontario Black History Society a position she held until
2015.She has received numerous awards for her efforts including in 1999 the
William Peyton Hubbard Relations Award, the Women of Pace Award, and the
Black Links Award. In the mid-2000s she completed her doctoral coursework at
the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto in the
Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education. In 2005 she earned
the Planet Africa Marcus Garvey Award. She also holds a lifetime achievers
Award from Women Achievers’ Awards and is a member of the Order of Ontario.
Rosemary married Jay Sadlier and the couple have three children. |
Fernande Saint-Martin |
SEE - Journalists |
Annette Saint-Pierre |
Born 1925,
Saint-Germaine-de-Grantham, Quebec. She earned her BA from the University of
Ottawa. She taught elementary school and high school in Manitoba for 20
years. In 1970 she became a professor of Canadian literature at College universitaire de Saint-Boniface, Manitoba. She was the person who initiated
the 1st university level Canadian literature course in western Canada. In
1978 she was a founding member of the Centre d'études Franco-Canadiennes de
l'Ouest. In 1980 she published her 1st book, Le Rideau se lève au
Manitoba In 1984, she was a director for the Regroupement des
centres d'études au Canada. She was also a founding member of the 1st two
Franco-Manitoba publishing houses, Éditions du Blé and Éditions des Plaines.
These publishing houses had the specific mission to promote French language
writing in Western Canada. Annette also played a major role in the
preservation of the Saint Boniface birthplace of the Canadian literary
giant Gabrielle Roy (1909-1983). In 2004 Annette was inducted into the
order of Canada. In 2005 she published the book Au
Pays de Gabrielle Roy. |
Laura Salverson |
née Goodman. Born December 9, 1890, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died July 13, 1970. In
1913 Laura married George Salverson and the couple lived in Winnipeg,
Manitoba, and then Toronto, Ontario. In 1923 Laura presented the first
of her seven published works, The Viking Heart. Most of her works would
reflect her Icelandic background. In 1937 Laura published the Dark Weaver
for which she received a Governor General’s Award in literature. In 1939 she
produced an autobiography, Confessions of an Immigrant’s Daughter which also
won a Governor General’s Award. In 1954 her Immortal Rock: the Saga of
the Kennington Stone won the Ryerson Fiction Award. Laura was a member
of the Paris Institute of Arts and Sciences which awarded her a gold medal
for literary merit. |
Berthe Sansregret
Sister Bertha
|
Born February 28, 1912, Joliette, Quebec. Died August 28,
2003. Berthe entered the Congregation de Notre Dame and pronounced her vows
in 1934. In 1940 she earned a degree in Pedagogy from the Université de
Montréal and began a career teaching domestic science including culinary
arts. She went on to study at the great culinary schools such as the
Académie de cuisine, Paris, France. In 1853 she took on the responsibility
of the Culinary Arts Department at Ecole Supérieure des arts et Métiers de
Montréal. From 1973 to 1993 she administered the Ecole d'art culinaire de
Montréal. During the 1970's she hosted a weekly cooking show on the
Télé-Métropole television network and published a dozen recipe books. Source: Hommage à 56 femmes
d'exception qui ont changé le Québec. Suggested by
Larry McNally, Gatineau, Quebec. |
Margaret Marshall Saunders
National Historic
Person |
Born
April 13, 1861, Milton, Nova Scotia. Died February 15, 1947, Toronto, Ontario.
Margaret studied in Edinburgh, Scotland and in Orleans, France and at 15
retuned home to take courses as Dalhousie University. She
originally wrote under the name Marshall Saunders to hide her female identity.
While it was just becoming somewhat respectable for women to be writers when
Margaret was publishing her works, writings by women were not best sellers.
In 1894 she wrote Beautiful Joe, a story of an abused dog, for a competition
sponsored by the American Humane Society. It won first prize!
Beautiful Joe
would became the first Canadian book to sell more than 1,000,000 copies. It
was translated into more than 14 different languages. Margaret would become
a prolific writer of children's stories and romance novels. She also wrote
on social issues for the Halifax Morning Chronicle and the Toronto
Globe. She was a lecturer and an animal rights advocate. She was also an
active member of the Local Council of Women in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Along
with fellow maritime writer Lucy Maude Montgomery (1872-1942) she founded
the the Nova Scotia Branch of the Canadian Women's Press Club (C W P C).
Margaret would serve as Vice president at the national level of the C W P C.
In 1914 she moved to Toronto where, living with her younger sister, the home
was always filled with pets. In 1934 she was appointed a Commander of the
Order of the British Empire (C. B. E). She was also the recipient of a medal
from the Societé protectrice des animaux in Paris, France. in 1947 the
National Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada declared Margaret
Marshall as a Person of National Historic Significance. In Milton, the
Nova Scotia government erected a plaque on her birth site. The plaque was
later moved to Tupper Park.
(2023) |
Camilla Sanderson |
SEE - Social Activists |
Annie Gregg
Savigny |
Died July 10, 1901. She became and established author with
such titles as A romance of Toronto (Toronto 1888); Lion, the
mastiff (Toronto 1895) and Three wedding rings (Toronto n.d.) She
could perhaps be considered a pioneer of early multi media writing as she
apparently worked or at least published for the Canadian Department of
Agriculture in 1898 when she prepared under her own name a lantern slide
lecture on teaching kindness to animals called : Dick Niven and his Nobby.
The work consisted of some 24 slides but only the descriptive text has
survived. |
Marcia Schonfeld |
SEE - Dayal Kaur Khalsa |
Judy Schultz |
Judy attended the University of
Alberta and the University of Saskatchewan. For 25 years she wrote for the
food section of the Edmonton Journal newspaper. After retirement she opened
a blog Judyink.ca sharing stories and of course recipes from both Canada and
New Zealand where she spends half her time. She has written 11 books by 2019
with her 1st novel, Freddy's War, being published in 2011.
She has published biographies such as Mamie's Children; Generations
of Prairie Women in 1998 and Jean Pare: an Appetite for Life, the
inspiring story of Canada's most popular cookbook author. |
Virginia Frances
Schwartz |
Born December 14, 1950, Stoney Creek, Ontario. Virginia trained as a teacher and
went on to become a staff developer in a School of Writing and Publishing
after being sent to Columbia University, New York City, U.S.A. to be trained
as a teacher of the writing process. She has taught creative writing at the
University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.A. Her book I Just Had Two
Wings won the Geoffrey Bilson, Silver Birch, Red Cedar and Myrca Awards.
Send One Angel Down won the recipient of a Parents Choice Gold Award.
Messenger took the Best Book of the Year for Youth Award from New
York City Public Library. (2018) |
Abbie Mary Lyon Sharman |
née Lyon. September 14, 1872, Hangchow, China. Died July 21,
1957, Duarte, California, U.S.A. Abbie's were missionaries in China when she
was born. In the early 1880's the family returned to North America and
settled in Ohio. Abbie attended the University of Wooster, Ohio, U.S.A. and
obtained her Bachelor degree. The school awarded her an honourary Masters in
1897. At first she intended to join her father in mission work and in 1894
she attended Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. In 1896 she
married the Canadian Bible scholar Henry Burton Sharman (1865-1953) and the
couple settled in Canada. During the time she was studying for her Doctoral
degree (which she earned from the University of Chicago in 1906) Abbie wrote
book reviews for the Chicago Evening Post newspaper. While living in Toronto
and Winnipeg she wrote fiction, poetry, biography and drama using the pen
name of Mrs. Lyon Sharman. She even illustrated one of her own books. A
member of the Canadian Womens Press Club in Toronto and Winnipeg, she would
serve as president of the Winnipeg chapter of the organization. She also
edited the Cape Cod Journal. The couple were in China for three years while
Henry was at the University of Peking. They retired to California, U.S.A.
but returned often to Canada to vacation in Algonquin Park in Ontario. Her
writings also included a book for children: The Horse that Educated the
Children: A Christmas Story of the Canadian Prairie published in
Winnipeg in 1912. Her writings appeared in various Publications including
the Canadian Forum, Canadian Student, and Poetry. Source: E C W W (accessed
(2020) |
Merle Shain |
SEE - Journalists |
Anna Maria 'Annie' Gregg Savigny
|
née Ryan. Born December 16, 1838, Birmingham,
Warwickshire, England. Died July 10, 1901, Toronto, Ontario. Annie and her
family immigrated and were settled in Toronto, Canada West by 1844 where her
father was a hardware merchant. In 1878 she married Hugh Paine Savigny
(1821-1881). In 1886 she published her first novel A Heart-Song of Today
which was followed two years later A Romance of Toronto. In 1992
she published Three Wedding Rings and in 1895 Lion, the Mastiff: from Life.
She also produced sever juvenile books about cruelty to animals. Later in
life she wrote for scientific periodicals on astronomy, including the
Transactions of the Astronomical and Physical Society of Toronto. During
her career she used many variations of her name on her publications
including A.G. Savigny, Annie Maria Gregg Ryan and Mrs. Hugh Savigny.
(2022) |
Mary Shaw |
Born March
20, 1965, Oshawa, Ontario. Mary’s family moved a lot when she was young,
moving with their father’s job. They finally settled in Waterloo, Ontario.
She watched her brothers play hockey while she played ringette since at that
time there were no girls hockey teams. She began University at the
University of Guelph but after two years switched to Wilfrid Laurier
University, Waterloo because of her job. She met and began dating a hockey
player, Brad Shaw. The couple married in June 1988 and they have three
children. After
their marriage Brad and Mary traveled to Europe where Brad was to play
hockey before being picked up by the National Hockey League playing for the
Hartford Whalers in the U.S.A. While living in the U.S. Mary had no green
card so she could not work. She took correspondence courses at the Institute
of Children’s Literature. After some time with the Ottawa Senators Brad was
playing with the Detroit Vipers and Mary decided she had time for writing.
Back in Canada she teamed up with artist Chuck Temple and Brad Brady the kid
who loved to play hockey was born while the family lived for Brad to play
hockey in Tampa Bay, Florida with the Lightening. . Back home in Ottawa the
Brady Brady character who loves hockey has become a popular series of hockey
stories for young people. Brad retired as a player in 2004 and took up
coaching. |
Carol Ann
Shields |
Born June 2, 1935, Oak Park Illinois, U.S.A. Died July 16, 2003,
Victoria, British Columbia. Carol
studied at Hanover College, Indiana, U.S.A. spending her junior year abroad
at the University of Exeter in England on a United Nations scholarship. In
1957 she married engineer Donald Hugh Shields and the couple immigrated to
Canada. Living in Ottawa she worked as an editorial assistant from
1968-1978. In 1975 she earned a Master's Degree from the University of Ottawa. A writer
and professor she was also Chancellor at the University of Winnipeg, where
the family had settled in 1980 and where she
had been a professor. The busy mother of five children,
this writer won the National Book Critics Circle Award, Governor General’s Award for Literature,
The Booker Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She was elected a member of the Royal Society of Canada, was induced into
the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba. Along with writing novels and biographies, she has also written
five
plays and written poetry. When her husband retired in 2000 the couple moved
to Victoria, British Columbia. In 2001 she was inducted into the Winnipeg
Citizens Hall of Fame. Films based on her novels include the 1996
Swann and in 2003 The Republic of Love. In 2020 the Carol Shields
Prize for Fiction was established to honour writing by Canadian, American,
and non-binary writers in English.(2022) |
Nancy 'Nan' Evelyn
Shipley |
née Summerville. Born 1902, Glasgow, Scotland. Died 1990. Coming to Canada as a youngster she grew and married and
settled in Winnipeg. Her first book was published in 1957 and followed it
with ten more works for young readers. Some were historical studies and some
were biographies. Many of the stories featured native and Métis women. In
1959 she organized Manitoba's first Indian handcrafts sales centre and she
was elected Woman of the Year in Manitoba by the Women's Sales and
Advertising Council in 1965. |
Virna Sheard |
née Stanton Born 1865 Cobourg, Canada
West (now Ontario). Died February 22, 1943. In 1898 she began publishing
short stories and poems in various magazines and journals. On July 10, 1884
she married Dr. Charles Sheard and they raised a family of four sons.
Between 1898 and 1938 she would publish some 12 books including;
Trevelyan's Little Daughter (Toronto, 1898) and A Maid of Many Moods
( Toronto, 1902). |
Susan Sibbald |
née Mein.
Born November 29, 1783, Cornwall, England. Died July 9, 1866, Toronto,
Ontario. Susan Married William Sibbald in 1807. The couple would have 11
children. In 1835 the family immigrated to Upper Canada (Now Ontario).
Within the year of landing in Canada Susan became a widow. The family must
have had some fortune for they were able to live in the colonial wilderness
in comfort. She wrote, much like the better known sister authors, Susannah
Moodie, and Catharine Parr Trail, notes for those who might wish to
immigrate. Her work was entitled : A few days in the United States and
Canada, hints for settlers published in 1846. She also penned an
autobiography of the 1st 29 years of her life which was published
in 1926 by her great-grandson. A facsimile reprint of the Memoirs of
Susan Sibbald 1783-1812 was published in 2010. Source: Marian E. Fowler, “MEIN, SUSAN,” in
Dictionary of Canadian Biography,
vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–,( accessed January 30,
2015) |
Angela Sidney
Indigenous storyteller |
Born January 4, 1902, Carcross,
Yukon. Died July 17, 1991, Carcross, Yukon. Angela was given the Tagish name
Ch'óonehte' Ma and the Tlingit name Stóow as well as Angela by her
Godfather. The names showed respect for both the peoples of her parents. Her
mother Maria was ill and could not participate in regular activities of her
daughter so times shared usually meant the telling of stories of the Tagish
peoples. Angela married when she was just 14 to George Sidney (1888-1971) a
future chief at Carcross. The couple would have seven children, three of who
survived to be adults. Angela felt strongly about preserving the traditions
and stories of her people and she was soon sharing her knowledge with her
own family members but also with other school children. Angela also assisted
linguists and anthropologists with research on the Tagish language and
traditions. In 1980 she published Place-names of the Tagish
Region, Southern Yukon and followed with Tagish Stories in 1982
and Our Family History in 1983. In 1984 Angela travelled to Toronto
to be part of the storytelling festival. In 1985 she became a member of the
Order of Canada, a national recognition of her efforts to preserve her
people's language, stories and traditions. In 1988 she was the inspiration
for the establishment of the Yukon International Storytelling Festival. She
said "Well, I have no money for my Grandchildren. My stories are my wealth."
(Julie Cruickshank, The Social Life of Stories Narrative and
Knowledge in the Yukon,
UBC Press, 2000) |
Jessie Georgina Sime |
Born February 12, 1868, Scotland. Died
September 13,1958, Wootton Wawen, England. After the death of her parents she emigrated to Montréal in 1907.
Here, she used her powers of observation of the middle class life of single
women immigrants in the pre World War l (1914-1918) urban Canada. Her father had been
an author and in Scotland she had written book reviews and articles for
newspapers and magazines. In 1919 she published a book of short stories
called Sister Women that told of her observations. She was a respected
lecturer on women writers and women characters in works by male writers. She
was a member of PEN and represented Canada at the PEN world conference in
Vienna. While she published at least 12 additional works, all written while
in Canada, but it is
Sister Women that illustrates the disproportional suffering women
in an era of social change. The work was republished in 1992 as a part of a
series on works of Canadian women authors. (2024) |
Beverley Simons |
Born March
31, 1938. A playwright of dramatic works she drew from her own background
for some of her play settings. She also wrote of women elders, studies of
life in retirement homes and of the contemporary human condition. She is
considered a Canadian playwright of significance.
|
Mary Singleton |
SEE - Frances Brooke |
Johanna Shively
Skibsrad |
Born May 1980, Meadowville, Nova
Scotia. In 2008 and 2010 she published works of poetry. In 2005 she earned
her Master's Degree from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. In 2010 she
won the Giller Prize for her novel Sentimentalists which has been translated
into multiple languages. Her second novel debuted in 2014. She married John
Melillo, a professor at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A.
By 2012 she held a doctorate (PhD) from Université de Montréal.
(2019) |
Constance Lindsay
Skinner |
Born
December 7, 1877, Stanley, British Columbia. Died March 27, 1939, New York
City, New York, U.S.A. At 10 years of age her family left the Caribou region
relocation 1st to Victoria and then to Vancouver, British
Columbia. Even as a teen in school she wrote plays, poetry and newspaper
article under the names of C. Lindsay Skinner and Constance Lindsay. By 1895
her work had been published in the Canadian Magazine out of Toronto.
By 1913 she used her full name when publishing her poetry. By 1920 she used
full name exclusively for all her writings. In 1900 she moved to Los Angeles
and worked for the LA Times and the following year her works appeared
across the country. In 1903 she was working for William Randolph Hearst at
the LA Examiner By 1908 she was in Chicago and in 1912 she had
arrived in New York City. As well as writing “Sob Sister” stories of human
interest she successfully continued her poetic endeavors and wrote plays
which she published in her own collected works, In the 1920’s and 1930’s she
was known for her histories of pioneers as well as a 3 volume history of the
fur trade: Beavers, Kings, and Cabins (NY; Macmillan, 1933). She also wrote
successful novels with Canadian settings from 1917 through 1929. She
published 19 books, 30 short stories and some 75 poems. Most of her female
characters were brave resourceful and refused to defer to men.
Source: D C B |
Marsha Forchuk
Skrypuch |
Born December 12, 1954, Brantford, Ontario. In school, she had trouble learning to read until she introduced
herself to the works of Charles Dickens. In High School she wrote
satire for the school newspaper. She studied English at the University of
Western Ontario and credits her degree with giving her the true talent to
read and learn enough to become a successful sales person for cutting
tools. After
university in 1978 she worked as a salesperson in Industrial tools where she
found that other women working in the industry as secretaries and
receptionists were “most hostile’ to her as a woman salesperson. She went on
to become a top sales representative for Canada.
She read up on everything before going for sales! Leaving her job she
returned to school to earn her Maters in Library Science. It was here that
she was introduced to Children's literature. She married Orest Skrypunch in 1981 and became
a stay at home for her son.Not
liking commercial breat pad sold on the market she developed her own and
soon had her own successful business selling her hand-stitched,
washable breast pads. In 1992 she began to write her own books.
A proud
Canadian of Ukrainian descent she began to write stories about Ukrainian
Canadians who were interned during World War l, and the Armenian genocide of
1915. In addition she wrote stories about orphans of the Vietnam War.
Disregarding constant refusals from publishers her 1st book
Silver Threads was published in 1996 winning the Amelia Frances
Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award and was listed by the Ontario Library
Association as a ‘Best Bet’. Since then she has published over 20 book for
young readers and has been nominated or won some 45 awards for her
stories. She started the Brantford Book Camp for children and a Summer
Writing Workshop for adults. In 2008 she was named to the Order of Princess
Olha, one of the Highest Awards from the Ukraine. |
Elizabeth Smart |
Born December 27, 1913, Ottawa, Ontario. Died March 4, 1986 London
England. She studied piano at school and at 19 she went to London,
England for music studies. She gave up piano, returned to Canada and began her career as a journalist
working for the Ottawa Journal newspaper.
During World War ll she worked briefly in
the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., U.S.A, before returning to
England. To support her family she worked writing advertising copy for
magazines. In 1945 she published
her 1st book, which was considered a masterpiece and was reprinted several times. By
Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept was published in
England and was based on her love affair with the poet George Baker, a
married man with whom she had four children. Her mother prevented the book
from selling many copies in Canada. Republished in 1966 the 1st Canadian
hardcover edition was published in 1982. The novel was considered a
masterpiece.
It was 32 years before she produced her next two books in 1977,
A Bonus, a short collection of
poems, and The Assumption of the Rogues and Rascals, which was a
prose poem that offers a continuation and comment on her earlier
work. In 1982 she was writer-in residence at the
University of Alberta. She
published again in 1984. An edited edition of her early journals was published
posthumously. Her biography By Heart: Elizabeth Smart a Life was
written in 1991 by Rosemary Sullivan. That same year the film Elizabeth
Smart: On the Side of Angels was produced. (2019)
|
Barbara Smucker |
née
Classen Born September 1, 1915, Newton, Kansas, U.S.A. Died July 31, 2003,
Bluffton, Ohio, U.S.A. Barbara studied at Bethel College and then went on to
Kansas Stat University earning a Bachelor's Degree in journalism. She taugt
school for a year and then went to work for the Evening
Kansan-Republican. In 1939 she married Donovan Smucker, a Mennonite
pastor. The couple came to Canada in 1969 where Barbara worked as the first
children's librarian at Kitchener Public Library in Ontario. From 1977 to
1982 she was head librarian at Renison College, University of Waterloo. .
This author, teacher, and children's librarian has won several awards for
her works including the Canada Council Children’s Literature Prize in
1977. Look for her Underground to Canada, Days of Terror, White
Mist, and other books. This author wove her stories for young people
around little known historical events and inserted a youthful fictional
character with whom her young readers could relate. Her 13 books have been
translated into several foreign languages as well a Braille and talking
books for the sight impaired. In 1993 the couple returned to live in
Bluffton, Ohio, U.S.A. (2024) |
Mary
Singleton
Spinster |
SEE
- Frances Brooke |
Irene
Mary
Spry |
née Biss. Born
August 28, 1907, Standerton, Transvaal,
South Africa. Died December 16,
1998 Ottawa, Ontario..
The works of this historian on the Palliser Expedition of 1857-1860 are
definitive studies. She represented
the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada at the Associated Country Women from
1954-to 1967 and was executive chairman 1959 to 1965.
She was a fervent supporter of Canada and of a social democratic
approach to public policy. She was
named an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1993.
Failing eyesight did not kept her from almost daily studies at the
National Archives of Canada where she could be seen using a large magnifying
glass in order to read documents.
Source: Personal interview. |
Edna
Louise
Staebler |
née Cress. Born January 15, 1906, Berlin (now Kitchener) Ontario. Died
September 12, 2006, Waterloo, Ontario. Edna was raised in Mennonite country
which would have great influence on her career. In 1929 she graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto (U of T) and she followed up with a teacher’s
certificate from the Ontario College of Education. At 16 she had experienced
the joy of writing and she would have her works published in numerous
magazines and journals including; Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Saturday Night,
Reader’s Digest, the Star Weekly as well as numerous newspapers.
She wrote non–fiction, historical research, and creative non–fiction literary
criticism but perhaps is best known for her cook books. While she had
published earlier, her best loved cook book was Food That Really Schmecks
from McClelland and Stewart in 1968. It would see numerous editions
and a series develop from the original publishing. The books contained not
only recipes of the Mennonite community but there were anecdotes and
stories of daily life interspersed between the culinary delights. In all she
would publish 21 books including the ‘Schmecks’ series. In 1991 she
established an award for creative non-fiction to be presented annually at
Wilfrid Laurier University. In 1996 she became a member of the Order of
Canada. Just prior to her death Must write: Edna Staebler Diaries
edited by Christi Verduyn was published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press,
2005.
Sources: Edna Staebler, B.A. L .L .D ,Who’s
Who in the Media Club of Canada 1991 : ‘Remembering Edna Staebler’,
Globe and Mail, Toronto, September 17, 2006. |
Savella Stechishin |
née Wawryniuk. Born August 19, 1903, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine.
Died April 22, 2002, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Savella and her family
immigrated to Canada in 1913 settling in Krydor, Saskatchewan.
While still a teen she married Julian Stechishin and the couple had three
children. After earning her teachers diploma she studied for her Bachelor of
Arts from the University of Saskatchewan in 1930. While she was a student
she was also Dean of Women at the Petro Mohyla Institute As Dean she
organized classes in cooking, homemaking and Ukrainian culture. She also
introduced young women to the art of public speaking. Working in the
Department of Women's Service at the University of Saskatchewan she ran
outreach programs for Ukrainian immigrants. She would also lecture
throughout North America and the Ukraine. In 1926 she helped establish the
Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada and ten years later was a strong
force behind the Ukrainian Museum of Canada. She would editor the women's
page of the Ukrainian Voice weekly for 25 years. During World War ll
she wrote for the Canadian Consumer Information Service. In 1957 she
published her own cook book, Ukrainian Cookery. She had already
published books in Ukrainian language covering Ukrainian Embroidery. In 1975
she published the 50th Anniversary of the Saskatoon Branch of the Ukrainian
Women's Association. With her help her husband Julian published books
including Ukrainian Grammar and History of the Ukrainian
Settlement in Canada which were translated and published in 1992. In
1989 she was inducted into the Order of Canada and in 1998 the Saskatchewan
Order of Merit. (2020) |
Kathy Stinson |
Born April 22, 1952. Born April
22, 1952. Kathy has had a variety of careers from sorting mail, waiting
tables to teaching school. She was one of the last teachers to go directly
from one year in Teachers’
College into the classroom. While
teaching she worked toward a B.A. at the University of Toronto, but she didn’t
complete it. She married in 1971, had two children (a son and a daughter),
and then divorced. She has been with life partner Peter Carver since 1985. In 1982 she published her
first children’s book, Red is Best with Annick Press. Since then
Kathy has published more than 2 dozen works including picture books, novels
for young adults, historical fiction, short stories, biographies as well as
several other works of non-fiction.
Red
is Best, Big
or Little? and The Bare Naked Book have all been published in
20th or 25th anniversary editions. Mom and Dad Don’t Live Together
Anymore, published in 1984, was revised and re-illustrated in 2007.Mom
and Dad Don’t Live Together Anymore, published in 1984, was revised in
2007. Her books have made the Ontario Library Association Top Ten books of
the Year listing and the CBC lists Red is Best as one of the top ten
Picture books each Canadian Home should have. She has been
Writer-in-Residence at various Public Libraries in Southern Ontario
including, East York, Toronto, Kitchener and Vaughn. Kathy also has embraced
the latest technology as Writer-in-Electronic Residence, linking her to
student and Professional writers across Canada.
Source: “Kathy Stinson” by
Dave Jenkinson CM Magazine, 2006 online (accessed May 2014) ; Personal
contact. |
Elizabeth
'Bette' Storin |
Born 1904.
Died 2005. At age 11 Bette won an essay competition with the Toronto City
Daily which included publication and prize money, and she was hooked on
writing for a career. For 3 years she worked in the Children’s Division of
the Toronto Public Library. In 1970 Bette and her family moved to British
Columbia where she started a day care centre and took courses at Camosun
College in Victoria earning a Certificate in Early Childhood Development.
She organized and ran for 10 years her own pre school for 18 children. Bette
contributed to the Xerox Weekly Reader, Highlights for Children, Jack and
Jill, Country Guide, the Western Producer, Vancouver Sun and many other
Canadian and American publications. She has also been published in trade
magazines such as Milk Salesman in Pittsburg, and the Chicago Milk
Plant Monthly. Her children’s book The Dreadful Dragon of Dismal Rock
was published by Borealis Press in 1985. A prolific writer, 36 of her short
stories have been broadcast on the CBC’s “John Drainie Short Story Program”
and the “Bernie Braden Short Story Program”, her stories have also been
narrated by personalities such as Don Harron and Nonie Griffin.
Source: Who’s Who in
the Media Club of Canada
1991 |
Kathleen May
Strange |
Born 1896, London, England. Died Ottawa,
Ontario January 9,
1968. née Redman. née Redman. Married December 23, 1918, in 1920 she
emigrated to Canada with her husband Major Harry. John. Latimer Strange and
they worked a farm in the Canadian west. In 1923 they won the World Wheat
Championship in Chicago. By 1928 she had contributed various articles to
Canadian magazines. In 1937 she won an award for her non-fiction work With
the west in her Eyes, which was a description of her own early farming life.
During her career she would compose some 60 short stories that would be
published. She also published Never a Dull Moment (1941) the memoirs of her
husband. |
Catherine Sonego Sutton
4104
Nahnebahwequat / Nahee |
née Sonego. Born 1824, Credit River, Canada West (now
Ontario. Died September 26, 1865, Owen Sound, Canada West (now Ontario).
Catherine was educated at the Ojibway Methodist mission school until 1837.
Adopted by Peter and Eliza Jones she traveled to long, England with them in
1838. In 1839 she married William Sutton, an English immigrant shoemaker.
Her first child died at six months but nine additional children survived. In
1846 the family relocated to Owen Sound where they famed. For five years
they spent time at the Garden River Reserve and then on a Michigan reserve
helping with a Methodist mission before returning to Owen Sound. In 1860 she
was advocating for their land with the Colonial Secretary and Queen Victoria
in England. She also spoke to such groups as the Aboriginal Protection
Society. Back in Canada she continued to stand for Indigenous rights. Her
writings were published in the Brantford Courier, the Christian
Guardian, Toronto, the Friends Intelligencer, Philadelphia,
U.S.A., The Leader, New York, U.S.A., the Liverpool Courrier,
England and the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia.
Source: E C W W (2022) |
Anne Tait |
Born Toronto,
Ontario. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University in 1954, and later
earned her M.A. at the University of Toronto, 1972. Her work in the Toronto
entertainment industry has included being a casting director of feature
films such as Margaret’s Museum, as well as major Canadian and
American television series such as Road To Avonlea; she has won two
Anik awards, and was nominated for an Emmy. She hosted her own daily CBC
radio program, and the weekly public affairs television series Some of
The People. In 2000 she founded ANNE TAIT PRODUCTIONS to develop and
produce quality feature films and dramatic television. The 2009 award
winning film Iron Road was her first as a co-producer.
Sources: Anne Tait Collection, E. J. Pratt
Library, University of Victoria Campus, University of Toronto. Online.
(accessed July 2013). Submitted by Jeanne Ouellette,
Ottawa, Ontario. |
Henriette Tassé
|
SEE - Journalists |
Gladys Taylor |
née Tall. Born 1917, Swan River, Manitoba. Died May 31, 2015, Airdrie,
Alberta. Gladys trained as a teacher and taught in Winnipeg for several
years. In 1940 she married Lorne Taylor in 1940 During
World War II.
Lorne served in the
Canadian Forces
and from 1943 Gladys served in the
Canadian Women's Army
Corps. At war end the couple settled to
Thetford Mines,
Quebec.
The housewife and mother of 4 began writing fiction as a hobby, and won the
Ryerson Press Award
for best novel of the year twice for her works Pine Roots, 1956 and
The King Tree, 1958.. She also served for several years as editor of
Canadian Bookman & Quarterly, the quarterly trade publication of the
Canadian Authors
Association. Divorced at age 50, Gladys moved west to
Alberta.
She became editor for the publication Western Leisure, which she
eventually bought. She expanded the business by acquiring a network of
community newspapers, including The Wheel and Deal, the Rocky View
Five Village Weekly, the Carstairs Courier and the Airdrie
Advance. In 1983 she was Calgary’s Businesswoman of the year. In 1984
she published which was based on her tour of Australia in 1977. Alone
in the Australian Outback which was the basis for the 1992 film
Over the Hill.
In 1987, she published Alone in the Boardroom, a memoir of her
experience as a woman in business at a time when that was still a rarity in
that era. She ran as an independent candidate in the
Alberta Senate nominee
election, 1989, finishing fourth of six candidates. Her 5th
book, Valinda, Our Daughter, 1993. The book tells of the
Egypt Air Flight 648
hijacking, with a focus on one of the Canadian passengers.
The town of Irricana, Alberta has named the public library in her honor. Sources: Gladys Taylor, Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada 1991;
Obituary, Calgary Herald, June 4, 2015. |
Ada
Bessie
Teetgen
Ada B. Teetgen
A. B. Teetgen
Captain Harcourt |
Born November 2, 1879, London, England. Died January 26,
1957, Canterbury, England. Ada published her first book in England in 1907. Two
years later she immigrated to Islay, Alberta to be with her sister's family.
After the death of her sister's baby Ada worked to improve medical services
in rural Alberta. In 1912 she published an autobiographical novel, A
White Passion to raise funds to build the local Lady Minto Hospital.
Back in England she worked as a Matron for Prison services and continued to
produce novels. Using the pen name Captain Harcourt she published Bob
Quested's Troop: A Tale of Prairie Scouts. published in 1912.
Source: ECWW (accessed 2020) |
Adeline Margaret Teskey |
Born 1853, Appleton, Canada West (now Ontario).
Died March 21, 1924. She was educated at the Genesee College located in New
York State, U.S.A. Between 1901 and 1913 she would publish some six books
including The Village Artist (Toronto 1905), and Candlelight Days (Toronto,
1913). |
Madeleine Thien |
Born May 25, 1974, Vancouver,
British Columbia. Madeleine studied contemporary dance at Simon Fraser
University, British Columbia and then switched to creative writing to earn
her Master's degree. In 2001 she published her 1st book of short stories and
also published a children's book based on the film The Chinese Violin.
In 2002 she earned the City of Vancouver Book Award for her book of short
stories called, Simple Recipes. Her 1st novel was published in 2006
followed with more novels in 2007 & 2008. She did a study tour of the U.S.A.
for a couple of years and from 2010 to 2015 she was part of the
International Faculty at the University of Hong Kong. In 2013 she served as
Writer-in-residence at Simon Fraser University. In 2016 her novel Do Not
Say We Have Nothing won the Governor General's English Fiction Award.
Madeleine lives in Montreal, Quebec with her partner Raui Haye. (2019) |
Sunera Thobani |
SEE - Social Activists |
Clara Eileen Thomas |
SEE - Academics |
Rebecca Agatha Armour Thompson
|
Born October 25, 1845, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Died April
24, 1891, Fredericton, New Brunswick. In 1863 Rebecca obtained her teacher's
certificate after graduating from the Provincial Teacher's College. She
would teach in Fredericton for several years and had a good reputation for
her work. Relocating to Lancaster (Saint John West), New Brunswick she began
writing stories for newspapers. By 1878 she was back in Fredericton where
her novel Lady Rosamond's Secret: a Romance of Fredericton appeared
as a serial in the Daily Telegraph. The novel provides interesting
glimpses of live in Fredericton in the 1820's. She would pen a series on
'Old Landmarks of Fredericton' in the Fredericton Capital in 1880
which included the story of Rose Hall the former home of Benedict Arnold
(1741-1801). January 22, 1885 she married John G. Thompson. After her
marriage she continued to write novels. After her death there was family
drama concerning her estate that rivaled the fiction novels she had written.
Source: D C B; ECWW. (2020) |
Dora Olive
Thompson |
Born 1893, Toronto, Ontario. Died September 29, 1934,
Toronto, Ontario. As the daughter of Henry
L. Thompson, president of Copp Clark Publishers, one might consider that the
door for a career was already open to her. Open door or not, one must have
talent to consider a writing career. Dora would leave a legacy of some 6
books for young Canadian readers. Her writings, usually had the title of the
name of a Canadian girl and told the story of their lives with
attention to their school live, church life and good deeds. As an author she
showed acceptance for multiculturalism showing warmth and concern for
European immigrant families in her fictional community life. (2020) |
Adeline Boardman
Todd
'Auntie Abbie' |
née Boardman. Born December 5, 1815, Newburyport,
Massacheutts, U.S.A. Died June 17, 1882, St. Stephen, New Brunswick. At 16
she joined her family in Calais, Maine, U.S.A. where she would teach school
and writ stories for the Youth's Companion out of Boston. In 1838 she
married a millionaire businessman Freeman Hale Todd and the couple settled
in his hometown of St Stephen, New Brunswick. The couple had eight children.
While recuperating from an illness at the Round Hill water-cure
establishment in Northampton, Maine, U.S.A. she began to write stories for
children using the name 'Auntie Abbie' These stories were published by the
American Baptist Publishing House. In 1869 the Round Hill Series of Sunday
School Books were published. (2020) |
Lola Lemire Tostevin |
Born June 15, 1937, Timmins,
Ontario. Lola studied comparative literature at the University of Alberta,
Calgary. This bilingual author has produced books in both of Canada's
official languages. Her strong command of her second language,
English, can be seen in her poetic publications. She has also translated
several notable authors who have written works in either French or English
for publication in the other language. Her books
of poems and her novels express
feelings of female life experiences such as pregnancy and birth as well as loss of immediate
family members in death. Her short fiction appeared
in French in XYZ-La Revue de la Nouvelle and in the
anthology, Closets of Time.
She was
writer-in-residence at the University of Western Ontario, London. She
teaches creative writing at York University, Toronto and is
contributing editor of Open Letter, a Canadian journal of
writing and theory. (2020) |
Teresa Toten |
Born October 13, 1955, Zagreb, Yugoslavia (Croatia). At only a few
days old her mother left Croatia to join the baby’s Canadian Father.
Teresa’s early life was rather unsettling with the family moving 17 times
from city to city to city. Unfortunately her father died when she was only
seven months old. Her first career choice was to be a mermaid. But
practicality of life took over. She attended the University of Toronto and
completed a Masters in Political Science just in time to marry and mover to
Montreal. Once settled she worked as a freelance broadcaster for Radio
Canada International before moving to Ottawa, Toronto, New York City and
back again to Toronto. In between moves 2 daughters were born and she
decided to become a stay at home mother. During this time she turned to
writing. She also became involved as a volunteer with Frontier College and
teaching English as a second language. Her writing has been mainly for young
readers and has resulted in numerous books having been published starting in
1995. According to Teresa writing is almost as good as being a mermaid!
Source: Teresa Toten by Dave Jenkinson CM Magazine
Profile online (accessed January 2007). (2020) |
Alice Ashworth Townley |
SEE - Social Activists |
Catherine Parr
Traill |
née Strickland. Born January 9,
1802, London, England. Died August 29, 1899, Selwyn, Ontario. After the death of
their father in 1818 the Strickland daughters, there were five sisters
turned to writing to supplement the family income. At 16, Catherine was
writing children's books. Her first book The Tell Tale: an Original
Collection of Moral and Amusing Stories was published anonymously in
1818.
This pioneer came to Upper Canada (now Ontario) with her retired
army lieutenant husband, Thomas Traill in 1832.The young couple were no
doubt encouraged on their endeavor to immigrate to Canada by Catherine's sister, Susanna Moodie
(1803-1885) who also soon immigrated. The couple settled near what is now
Peterborough, Ontario, which at that time was a backwoods area. Catherine
wrote of the life around her in what was then The Canadas
in her book, The Backwoods of Canada in 1836. In 1854 she
published the Female Emigrant's Guide which outlined the skills
necessary for a new settled in the Canadian backwoods. This book would later
be republished as the Canadian Settler's Guide. Her
sister, Susanna Moodie would also become a well known Canadian author. In
1840 the Trails and Moodies both moved to the city of Belleville, Ontario.
in 1865
Catherine would also
note the flora of the region in her Canadian Wild Flowers,
Studies of Plant Life in Canada in 1885 and Rambles in the Canadian Forest.
In 1996 the book I Bless You in My Heart: Selected Correspondence of
Catherine Parr Trail was published. Trent University, Peterborough,
Ontario, named their downtown campus after her.
Catharine Parr Traill College is the University's main college for graduate
studies. In 2008 as part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the
National Library of Canada Canada Post issued a series of stamps featuring
early Canadian writers that included both Catherine Parr Traill and Susanna
Moodie. (2024) |
Constance Winifred
Travers - Sweatman
4134 |
née Newton. Born October 31, 1879, Quebec City, Quebec. Died August 10,
1964, Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Newton family relocated to Winnipeg .
Constance became, like many of her generation, a teacher and worked at a
private school. In 1910 she married William Andrew Travers Sweatman
(1879-1941) and the couple had four children. Constance would write three
novels, the first of which appeared in 1926. She would also write several
radio plays and dabbled in poetry. Her 1927 novel, Half Prince, had been
serialized at first in MacLean's prior to being transformed into a play in
1931. In 1940 the couple relocated to Toronto.
Source: E C W W online (accessed 2022) |
Rhea Tregebov |
SEE - Poets |
Marie-Rose Turcot |
Born July 2,
1887, Laurierville, Quebec. Died November 27, 1977, Orleans, Ontario. She
completed her university studies at the University of Ottawa and remained
the city as a journalist and writer. She collaborated on the Annales de
l’institut Canadien-français d’Ottawa, Revue Moderne and was editor of the
women’s pages of the French language newspaper Le Droit from
1934-1950. In May 1925 she was appointed to the French secretariat of the
Council of Women in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. She was an active member of the
Canadian Women’s Press Club, the Société d’étude et de conferences, the
Société de écrivains des canadiens-française and the Association of Women
Journalists. She began to publish books in 1920, 1930, and in 1933 she
published two more books. In 2005 the Ontario Heritage Foundation erected an
historic plaque in Ottawa commemorating her life and work.
Source:
‘Marie-Rose Turcot, journalist and author’, Ottawa raconte-moi Online
(accessed July 2015) |
Georgette Vachon |
Born 1900,
Lac-à-La-Tortue, Québec. Died February 7, 1987, Ottawa, Ontario. After
graduating from Laval University she studied at St Germain-des-Prés, France.
In 1924 she married civil aviation pioneer Romeo Vachon. The couple would
have 4 children. In 1944 the family settled in Ottawa. She was one of the
founders of the Ottawa Branch and also served as president of La Société
d’étude et de conference. She also found time to set up guided tours of the
National Gallery of Canada. She was a member of the Female Journalists’
Circle of Ottawa. She would write her husband’s biography entitled Romeo
Vachon: distinguished Canadian Aviator in 1969. Still in the aviation
theme in 1974 she penned Goggles, Helmets and Airmail Stamps and it
the following year she published Images of Romeo Vachon. For 6 years
she was in charge of the historical documents of the Royal Canadian Air
Force. She served on the Board of Directors of L’Alliance française d
‘Ottawa serving as chair 1954/5. She founded Christ–Roi Branch of the
L’Alliance française des femmes Canadiennes-française in Ottawa. On May 16,
1967 she received the L’Alliance française medal from the French Ambassador. Source: Georgette Vachon, Community Leader and Author, Ottawa
raconte-moi. Online (accessed July 2015) |
Charlotte Vale - Allen |
Born January 19, 1941, Toronto, Ontario. Died
January 12, 2023, Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.A. Charlotte lived with an
overbearing father who was physical with her. She left high school to take
up her teen passion and studied formal night classes in acting. She once
dressed as a messenger boy to take a fan letter to actor Bette Davis. Davis was
smitten by the letter and she became friends with the young upstart.
Escaping her home situation she moving to England and worked from 1961-1964 in
sleazy night spots to make a living. In the mid the 1960’s she brought her
career back to Canada. Married in 1970, she soon became an urban mother to a
beautiful daughter. By 1975 the urge to write became strong and she wrote
her only non-fiction book, Daddy’s Girl, about her abusive childhood.
The subject of the book was not popular in that era and she would publish
some fifteen works of fiction before she would get this ground breaking work
to readers. She penned over thirty books which have
been grabbed up by the public, mainly in the United Kingdom ,where she is one
of the most borrowed authors from libraries. Her books sell in over twenty
countries but yet she is not overly recognized in Canada. She developed her
own press to publish her own commercial fiction. Her stories deal with
strong feisty women who discover that they can take care of themselves when
it comes to living with adversity. She also writes under the pen name of
Katherine Marlowe. She divides her time between her home in Toronto and a
second home in Connecticut.
Sources: “Ignored at Home. Successful Abroad” by Diane Frances MacLean’s
October 15, 1999: Canadian Who’s Who 2005 (University of Toronto Press,
2005) |
Yvonne Vera |
Born Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Died April 7, 2005. As a child she
was the first Black person to get a library card at the whites only Public
Library in Bulawayo. She came to Toronto, Ontario and attained her
undergraduate and graduate degrees, including her PhD in record time and got
married She was drawn back to her troubled homeland of Zimbabwe with her
need to write. She would publish 5 novels and a collection of short stories,
all of which have been translated into several languages.
Acknowledgement of her talent came in awards such as the Commonwealth
Writers Prize for African 1999 and the Swedish PEN Tucholsk Prize which
recognizes works on taboo subjects. She wrote about problems in her native
land, such as : incest, abortion, rape, infanticide and suicide. The BBC
World Services has produced a 2 hour work which serves as a biography of
this courageous writer. Evidently, when she wanted to write she would
check herself into a hotel for three weeks and emerge with a manuscript such
as Butterfly Burning (1998) . Perhaps the fast track studies at York
University and the 3 weeks production of a manuscript were part of the
knowledge that having AIDS meant she did not have a long time to do what she
wanted to achieve in her lifetime. |
Marie Paule Villeneuve |
Born Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec. Marie earned her Bachelor's
degree in history and philosophy at the Université de Sherbrooke,
Quebec. As a journalist she has worked for and contributed works to various
Quebec publications including Le Devoir, La Press canadienne
and Le Droit. She is the founder of L'Agence littéaire Alinéa. Her
1st book, L'Enfant cigarier was published in 1999 and as of 2012 she
has published 6 books in Quebec. (2019) |
Anna 'Annie' Louisa Walker |
SEE - Poets |
Willa Walker |
SEE - Military |
Elizabeth A. Warner |
Born January 28, 1885, Coulson, Ontario. Died ???? Elizabeth graduated from the
Macdonald Institute (now part of the University of Guelph) Guelph, Ontario
in 1908. By 1912 she was working as an assistant flour tester for Pillsbury
Milling Company , Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. By 1971 she was listed in
the Winnipeg Manitoba directory. In 1917 the Purity Cook Book under her name
was the first cookbook promoting the use of Purity Flour. The book
was reprinted in 1923 and 1932. Also in 1917 she was involved with the
Thrift Cook Book that came from the War Relief Auxiliary of Toronto. Funds
raised went to various associations working for the World War l (1914-1918) war effort.
In 1934 she was a staff member of the Ontario Women’s Institute.
In 1975 the a facsimile of the original Purity Flour Cook
Book was published by Coles.
Source: Culinary Landmarks: Bibliography of Canadian Cookbooks 1825-1949
by Elizabeth Driver, University of Toronto Press. |
Elizabeth
Hillman
Waterston |
SEE - Academics - Educators |
Sheila Martin Watson |
née Doherty. Born October 24, 1909, New Westminster, British Columbia. Died February 1,
1998, Nanaimo, British Columbia. She earned her Bachelor degree from the
University of British Columbia in 1931 and went on to earn her Masters'
degree in 1933. She worked as an elementary and high school teacher in
various locations in British Columbia. In 1941 she married poet
Wilfred Watson (19911-1998).She taught at Toronto's Moulton Ladies College
for two years in the mid 1940's and then lectured at the University of
British Columbia for two years. From 1957 to 1964 she she worked on
her thesis for her PhD degree from the University of Toronto. Her novel Double Hook, written in
the early 1950's was turned down by numerous publishers. Finally published
in 1959 it is
considered the point for the beginning of contemporary writing in Canada. In
1961 she worked as a professor of English at the University of Alberta. She
and her poet husband were founders of the White Pelican which published from
1971 through 1975 and won the Governor General's Award in 1973.
She was awarded for her writings the Lorne Pierce Medal from the Royal
Society of Canada. Sheila retired from teaching in 1975 and the following
year she and her husband relocated to Nanaimo, British Columbia.(2019) |
Katherine 'Kit' Brennan Watters
|
Born April 9, 1957. During her studies at Queens
University she received awards including the Lorne Green Award. She acted
for several years but prefers writing plays. One of her works, Spring
Planting has received the Saskatchewan Writers Guild Award. |
Sydell Waxman |
née Zamikoff. Sydell attended Toronto Teacher’s College and when she began teaching in
primary grade school she also took on the position of teacher librarian. She
is married with three children. For a while she wrote stories for various
Canadian and American magazine. She then became interested and wondered why
women’s life stories were not being told. She too a course in women’s
studies at the Women’s Resource Centre at the Ontario Institute of Studies
in Education. She also did some historical research and produced her 1st
book, a biography for young readers about Canada’s 1st practicing
woman doctor Emily Stowe (1831-1903) called Changing the Pattern. The
book won the Toronto Heritage Award of Merit in 1990 and the Our Choice Seal
for Best Canadian Children’s Book. Her book Storytelling Around the World
won the Rooster Prize. Another biography that Sydell has written for young
readers, Believing in Books: the Story of Lillian Smith, won the 2002
Frances E. Russell Award from the International Board on Books for Young
People (I B B Y). It is the story of the Toronto woman who was 1st
children’s librarian in the British Commonwealth. Famous Canadian Women
sincerely hopes that more books for young readers telling the stories of
Canadian women is part of the future plans for this author. |
Emily Poynton Weaver |
Born 1865, Manchester, England. Died March 11, 1943. In 1880
she emigrated with her parents to Canada. She would study and become a well
known author and historian. She published some 11 books in the field of
Canadian history including: A Canadian History For Boys (Toronto, 1905) :
The stories of Counties of Ontario (Toronto, 1913) and Canada and the
British Immigrant (London, 1914) |
Margaret Hubner Wetherell |
née Smith. Died 1933. A writer of local history she is best
remembered for her Jubilee History of Thorold Township. (Thorold, ON, 1898).
The original edition had now name of the author but when the work was
re-issued in 1933 Wetherell's name appeared as the author of the work. |
Frances Shelley Wees |
Born April 29, 1902, Gresham, Oregon, U.S.A. Died November
27, 1982, Denman Island, British Columbia. Moving to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Frances graduated from Normal School (Teacher's College) and began teaching
at seventeen. She then attended the University of Alberta to earn her
Bachelor of Arts. It was while she was at university she wrote her first
novel which she never published. In the 1920's she was director for
Chautauquas in Canada. This was an adult educational and social movement. In
1924 she married Wilfred Wees and the couple had two children. One of her
early handwritten manuscripts was found by her husband he typed it and sent
it to a New York Publisher. Frances would go on to write more than two dozen
mystery and romance novels including The Maestro murders in 1931. In the
1930's she worked in Toronto in public relations. During the second world
war she led the national clothing drive for the United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Administration. She also wrote serial fiction, poems
and articles which were published in various magazines of the day as well ad
publishing readers for primary school. She moved from her home in
Stouffville, Ontario to Denman Island, British Columbia in 1981. |
Margaret Weiers |
née Kesslering. Born Saskatchewan. After graduating with a Bachelor
of Arts in 1949 from the University of Saskatchewan. she
took a job in Regina with the Commonwealth, the Saskatchewan C C F
weekly where, as the only reporter on staff, she covered everything, had a
column and even wrote an editorial. Her next job was with the Regina
Leader-Post . In the 1950s she spent two years as a foreign service
officer in Ottawa and New York. She did some freelance work in Canada and
Africa and, in 1963, joined the Toronto Star where she remained until
her retirement in 1991. At the Star she was, in turn, reporter,
feature writer and writer of editorials as a member of the newspaper’s
editorial board. She won a Canadian Women’s Press Club award for news
reporting in 1969. Margaret joined the Heliconian Club in 1979, has served
on the Executive Committee, was co-editor of The Bulletin for 10
years and served on the Board of Management of the Heliconian Hall
Foundation as president. That same year 1979, she became the 1st journalist
to receive a special award from the American Association on Mental
Deficiency for the citation called Socially Responsible Journalism.
She wrote the book, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign
Service, (Toronto, Dundurn Press, 1995). In October 2009 she was named
one of a number of Alumni of Influence by the University of Saskatchewan and
in June 2010 the university awarded her an honorary Doctor of Letters
degree.
Source: Duff Spofford, ‘Stop the Presses! Looking back on 100 years of
Sheaf Alumni in the Media. (Part 4, 1946-1952)’, The Sheaf,
September 18, 2012. |
Joan Weir |
Born April 21, 1928, Calgary, Alberta. Died June 15, 2018,
Kamloops, British Columbia. Raised in Calgary and
Winnipeg, Joan attended the University of Manitoba. She worked in
advertising at Eaton's department store where she had great fun with Radio
programs such as the Santa Claus program. This was her introduction to
writing. While she has written history and biography non-fiction for adults
she has received the most of her joy from writing for teenagers. She married
a doctor in 1955 and stopped work to stay at home with her children but she
still found time to research and write. In 2000 her book, The Brideship
and the Principal's Kid, won the British Columbia Centennial Book Award. Along with her books she penned
scripts for TV series such as 'Fifteen' on the Nickelodeon Network.
She was
also a teacher providing classes in creative writing at University College
of the Caribou. You may find many of her over 20 books at your library!
(2022) |
Kate Eva Westlake-Yeigh
'Aunt Polly Wogg' |
Born 1856, Ingersoll, Canada East (now
Ontario). Died March 4, 1906, London, Ontario. Kate wrote her first
published item, Stranger Than Fiction, as a serial. After the death of her
brother in 1881 she replaced him as an editor of the St. Thomas Journal.
She went on to become editor of the Fireside Weekly, a family story
paper published in Toronto. At times she used the pen name 'Aunt Polly
Wogg'. In 1981, a year after the death of the famous Chief Sitting Bull, she
published Sitting Bull's White Ward, which, at first, was published as
an anonymous author. In 1892 she married Frank Yeigh ad fellow
author. She often wrote for Canadian Magazine and in 1906 she published A Specimen Spinster, a book about the views on life of Aunt Polly Wolly.
(2023) |
Ethelwyn Wetherald |
Born April 26, 1857, Rockwood,
Ontario. Died March 9, 1940. The family relocated to Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
for two years where her father was superintendent of Haverford College. Back
in Canada Ethelwyn was sent to Friends' Boarding School, Union Springs, New
York, U.S.A. While she never married she did adopt a daughter. She was a
published poet and journalist and co-authored an historical romance novel,
An Algonquin Maiden in 1887. In 1895 she published her 1st collection
of poems and followed this up with additional publications in 1902 and 1904.
She also contributed her writings to the Christian Union, the
Chicago Current, The Week, the Canadian Monthly, and
Saturday Night. Using the pen name Bel Thistlethwaite she worked as an
editor for The Globe in Toronto and The Advertiser out of
London, Ontario. She also worked as an assistant to the editor of the
Ladies Home Journal and the World's Best Literature
magazines. When she was a senior she continued to write under her own name
and occasionally she used the pen name Octo which was short for
octogenarian. Her daughter would publish a collection of her mother's works
posthumously. (2019) |
Bernelda Wheeler
3804
First Lady of Native Broadcasting |
Born April 8, 1937, Muscowpetung First Nation, Saskatchewan.
Died September 10, 2005, Regina, Saskatchewan. In the 1940's Bernelda and
her family moved to Churchill, Manitoba where she attended Bertie and
Brandon residential Schools. In 1954 she became a disc jockey for C F H C a
C B C Northern Service radio station in Churchill. She attended the
University of Manitoba for a short time and then turned to a career in
journalism and broadcasting. She penned newspaper columns in Western Canada
including three regular columns for EagleFeather News. For ten years
after 1972 she was a host, producer, investigative journalist, and writer
for the C B C radio program Our Native Land. It was here that she earned the
name as First Lady of Native Broadcasting in Canada'. In 1982 she received a
special award for Native Broadcasting in Canada. In 1991 she was
inducted into the Order of Canada. She also worked on stage and on
television in the series Big Bear. She authored several books including in
1992, Where Did You Get Your Moccasins, and I Can't Have Bannock But the
Beaver Has a Dam in 1993. In 2002 she was the Citizen of the year with the
Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nationals Circle of Honor. In 2005 she
earned the Rebel With a Cause Award from the Elizabeth Fry Society.
Source: Memorable Manitobans online (accessed
2022); Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022) |
Harriet Annie Wilkins |
Born 1829, England. Died January 7, 1888. She emigrated to
Canada as a child with her family and settled in Hamilton, Canada West
(Ontario). Between 1851 and 1882 she would publish some five books. |
Marjorie Elliott Wilkins Campbell |
Born 1901, London, England. Died November 23, 1986. In 1904 the family
emigrated to Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. Marjorie was educated
in
Swift Current,
Saskatchewan and
Toronto,
Ontario. She married Angus Campbell, a surgeon, in 1931 and continued to
work as a writer and editor working for Magazine Digest, Chatelaine,
Saturday Night and MacLean’s. She would publish 14 books mainly
historical fiction and the biography of Colonel Baker of the Canadian
National Institute of the Blind (C. N. I. B.) called No Compromise. Her
writing garnered her multiple awards including from the Canada Council, a
Guggenheime Fellowship. She earned as well the Governor General’s award in
literature in non-fiction in 1950 and in 1954 for Juvenile Fiction for her
work the Nor’Westers. She was inducted as a Member of the Order of
Canada. Her papers are maintained in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at
the University of Toronto. |
Clara Flos Jewell Williams |
Born October
2, 1889, Dundalk, Ontario. Died January 20, 1970, North Saarnich, British
Columbia. Flos spent her youth attending Jarvis High school in Toronto and
after she attended Normal School (teachers' college) in Toronto to obtain her
teaching certificate. She taught in Bobcageon and the Karatha Lakes
District, and then back to Toronto. On April 23, 1923 she married David
Selkirk Williams (1882-1963)
a traveling salesman. In 1923 the young couple had settled in Calgary where
they raised their twin sons. Finding herself alone with her husband on the
road for his job she began writing. In 1925 she submitted a book an won
runner up prize of $2500.00 from Hodder & Stoughton Publishers. She wrote
poetry and short stories along with magazine articles that were published in
various well known Canadian periodicals. In 1949 she won a prize from
Ryerson Press for her book Fold Home which was set in the Caraboo
District of British Columbia. She relocated to the west Coast later in life.
Her house at 5 Rose Ave, in Cabbagetown, an inner neighborhood in Toronto,
is marked with an historic plaque, from the local heritage group.
Sources:
Cabbagetown People : The social history of a Canadian Inner City
Neighborhood. Online (accessed March 2014) ; Flos Jewell Williams,
Digital Collections, Library, Simon Fraser University. Online (accessed
March 2014) |
Marjory Willison |
Born Toronto, Ontario. Died December 15, 1938. née MacMurchy.
In 1926 she married Sir John Willison and became Lady Willison. She would
write some five books between 1916 and 1937: The Woman Bless Her
(Toronto, 1916); The Canadian Girl at Work (Toronto. 1919); The
Child's House (London 1923); Golden Treasury of Famous Books
(Toronto, 1929); The Longest Way Round (Toronto, 1937) |
Budge
Marjorie Macgregor
Wilson |
née
Archibald. Born May 2, 1927, Nova Scotia. Died March 19, 2021,
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Budge attended Dalhousie University, Halifax,
graduating with her Bachelor of Arts in 1949. Post graduate studies followed
at the University of Toronto (U of T) and by 1953 she had obtained a Diploma
of Education as well as a certificate in physical education. That same year
she married Alan Wilson and together they had two children. She had taught
English at Halifax Ladies College prior to working at the Institute of Child
study at U of T. She would also work at the Toronto Public Library and
Acadia University. In 1968 she was a fitness instructor with the
Peterborough County Board of Education and at the Young Women's Christian
Association (Y W C A) in Ontario. working to 1987. An acclaimed author,
Budge did not begin her writing career until she was in her 50's. Her first
book, The Best/Worst Christmas Present Ever appeared in 1984 when she
was 56. Her writings began winning awards with the CBC
Fiction Award in 1981. She has won among some 25 other awards the Atlantic
Writing Competition for fiction, the Canadian Library Association
Award, the Mariana Dempster Award, and the Thomas Randall
Award. Most of her books, more than 30 titles, were for youth although she
often writes with adults in mind. In 1989 she and her husband relocated to
Nova Scotia. In 1998 she was inducted into the Her works have been
published in eleven countries and nine different languages. Perhaps you have read some
of her books? The Leaving (1990), The Courtship (1994), Cordelia
Clark (1994), Fractures (2002), and Friendships (2006) are a few of the titles
she has written. In 2004 she was inducted into to the Order of
Canada. In 2008, well known for her five collections of
short stories, she
was selected to write prequel, Before Green Gables, in celebration of 100 years of Anne.
In 2011 she was inducted into the Order of Nova Scotia and in 2012 she
received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal.
In 2016 she
published a collection of poetry, After Swissair.
Source:
Information submitted by Alan Wilson;
Obituary on Legacy (accessed 2021)
|
Ethel Davis Wilson |
née Bryant. Born January 20, 1888, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Died
December 22, 1980, Vancouver, British Columbia. After the death of her
parents when Ethel was ten she immigrated to Canada to live with her grandmother.
She was educated at private schools in Canada and England before returning
to attend the Vancouver Normal School (teacher’s college). After graduating
in 1907 she taught public school until her marriage to Dr. Wallace Wilson in
1927. Ethel began writing in 1937 with her early stories being published in
British magazines. In 1947 she published her first novel, Hetty Dorva.
From 1947-57, she wrote four more novels, best known being Swamp Angel,
Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories, her last published work, appeared
in 1964. She received a special Canada Council medal for contributions to
Canadian literature and the Lorne Pierce Medal from the Royal Society of
Canada. She was inducted into the Order of Canada and in 1970 received the
Canada Medal of Service. British .Columbia's top fiction writing prize is named for
her.
Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia online : The Vancouver Hall of
Fame Online accessed November 2012. Suggested reading: Ethel Wilson:
Stories, essays and Letters. Edited by D. Stouck (1988) |
Adele Wiseman |
Born May 21, 1928, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died June 1, 1992, Toronto, Ontario.
Adel graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1949. She took on a
variety of jobs including teaching at the Overseas School of Rome, Italy for
a year in 1951. In 1955 she was in England volunteering for the Jewish
Girls’ Hospital in Stepney. Back in Canada she supported herself working as
a lab tech and as secretary to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. During this time
she was working on her 1st novel The Sacrifice which was
published in 1956 winning the Governor’s General Award for 1957 as well as
the Beta Sigma Phi Award. She then was writer-in-residence at the University
of Windsor in Ontario. From 1957-1960 she worked on a Guggenheim fellowship
in New York City, U.S.A. From 1961-1962 she worked on writing children’s
stories while living in London, Ontario. In 1964-1969 she was living in
Montreal, Quebec and lecturing at Sir George Williams University and other
institutions. She received a Canada Council Senior Arts Award to work on her
3rd novel and was writer-in-residence at the University of
Toronto which she followed up with taking similar positions as other Ontario
universities. Along with her novels and children’s books she had plays
published as well as essays and nonfiction works. |
Frieda Wishinsky |
Born July 14, 1948, Munich Germany. She moved with her family
and would grow up in Manhattan (New York City) where she attended the
University of New York. She studied for her Masters in Special Education at Ferkauf Graduate School and then began working with disabled adults. She
married and settled in Toronto where the couple adopted 2 children.
She started writing books and became hooked on writing before publishers
became hooked on publishing her works. The early refusals only empowered her
energy and her determination. She has published mainly for the your market.
Her works have introduced youth lives of famous people such as Frederick Law
Olmstead, the "man who made parks", Einstein in " what's the matter
with Albert' and Marie Currie in 'Maya's dream'. She enjoys writing about
scientists, she tells fan, but doesn't mean to become one. A prolific
writer, since 1997 she has produced almost 20 books, published in Canada,
the USA and Great Britain. |
Joanna Ellen 'Nellie' Wood
|
Born December 28, 1867, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Died May
1, 1927, Detroit Michigan, U.S.A. In 1869 the family immigrated to the
U.S.A. settling in Irving. New York. They then relocated to the area of
Guelph, Ontario. From 1887 to 1901 she was in New York City, U.S.A. with her
brother William. In
the hay day of her writing contemporary magazines hailed this author as the
Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, or the Nathanial Hawthorne of Canada. She
was rated as one of the top three Canadian authors along with Gilbert Parker
and Charles C.D. Roberts. It was with the support of her family that she was
encourage to have her writings published as early as 1890. A daughter of
Witches was published as a serial, a chapter at a time, in the Canadian
Magazine in 1898. Critics described her characters as “vivid and magnetic.”
During a trip to England it was rumoured that she was engaged to poet
Algernon Charles Swinburne but no real evidence of this has been found. In
1901 she was living in Niagara region, Ontario with her widowed mother. and
was the highest paid Canadian fiction writer. Her last novel,
Farden Ha' in 1902.
It is not really known why the novels stopped in 1902. She did present
lectures in local history but did not present the information in print. In
1907 she joined the Niagara Historical Society. By 1914 she was living
in Buffalo, New York, U.S.A. In 1927 a newspaper reported she has
suffered a nervous breakdown some years ago causing her to abandon her
writing. In 1994 her work, The Untempered Wind, was republished in a
centenary edition.
Source: Industry Canada.;
D C B 2021. |
Johanna Ellen
Wood |
Born December 28, 1867, Lesmahagow, Scotland.
Died May 1, 1927, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. 1919. Johanna and her family
immigrated at first to Irving, New York, U.S.A. in 1869 and later resettled
in Ontario. In 1898 she published the novel, Judith Moore or Fashioning a
Pipe, which told the story of a small-town Ontario artist. By 1913
Johanna was living in Queenston, Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. As an author she would publish some
5 books between 1898 and
1903. and wrote short stories that were published in serials. In 1901 she was
the highest paid Canadian fiction writer. (2023) |
Kate Yeigh |
See - Kate Eva Westlake - Yeigh |
Pamelia Sarah
Yule |
née Vining. Born April 10, 1826, Clarendon, New York State, U.S.A. Died March 6, 1897,
Peebles Corners, Ingersoll, Ontario.
After her training and some teaching experience in the U.S.A. in
1860 Pamelia was
appointed instructor of English at the Canadian Literary Institute,
Woodstock, Canada West (now Ontario). She met and married James Cotton Yule
(1839-1876). Resigning from her teaching position upon her marriage in 1866
and the couple settled in Brantford, Ontario, where her husband ran a
private grammar school. Within two years James had accepted a pastorship and
they lived in York Mill, Ontario. Pamelia
enjoyed writing poetry contribution to various publications including
Canadian Baptist, Canadian Illustrated News, Canadian Monthly
and National Review in Canada and Emerson's Magazine in New York,
Literary Miscellany in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. She published Poems of the Heart
(Toronto, 1881).
Pamelia would use a variety of signatures for her work including using the
pen names 'Emillia' and 'Xenette'. She would publish an additional four books including
Records of a Vanished
Life : lectures, addresses etc. of James Cotton Yule (Toronto, 1876) in
memory of her late husband.
Source: D C B; ECWW |
Debora
Turney
Zagwyn
|
Born August
14, 1953, Cornwall, Ontario. Deborah has always loved to draw and tell
stories. In the 1970’s Deborah toured the craft fairs of British Columbia
showing hand-woven and hand dyed tapestries. She had produced 5 mega murals
displayed in British Columbia. On March 8, 1978 she married Leo Zagwyn and
the couple has 2 children. She expanded her artistic talents to watercolour
paintings and soft-sculpture works and she has had her works exhibited all
along the west coast of Canada. She turned her talents to published stories
for children and had brought the stories alive with her won vibrant
illustrations. She had produced over 10 books for children winning the
Sheila Egoff Children’s Prize in 1989 and in 1995 she was a finalist in the
Mr. Christies Book Award.
Source:
Canadian Who’s Who (Toronto; University of Toronto Press; 1997) |
Journalists, Broadcasters,
and Editors
Return
to categories |
Nell Adaire |
SEE - Social Activists - Emily Spencer Kirby |
Naomi Yanova Adaskin-Godden |
née
Granatstein. Born May 6, 1908, Toronto, Ontario. Died March 1, 1996,
Toronto, Ontario. Naomi
studied music with such well know Canadian as Healey Willan(1880-1968) at
the Toronto College of Music and Mona Bates (1889-1971). at the
University of Toronto. She made her debut as a pianist at Massey Hall, Toronto, when she was just 12
years old. She accompanied her first husband John Adaskin (died 1964) in
recitals from 1929-1938. The couple had two children. With her piano playing partner, Etta Cole, the duo toured
successfully toured North America. In 1939 she became a soloist. She taught
at the Toronto Conservatory of Music and wrote articles for various Canadian
publications such as the Star Weekly, Chatelaine, and The Globe and Mail
newspaper in Toronto. She was the music critic for the Toronto Daily Star
and edited school music texts for Ginn and Co. publishers. In 1979 she
married Reginald Godden. Source: Canadian
Encyclopedia |
Kate May Aitken |
née Scott. Born
1891, Beeton, Ontario. Died December 11, 1971, Mississauga, Ontario. née Scott. As a youth of 14
Kate began
teaching. In 1914 she married her childhood sweetheart, Henry M. Aitken
(1888-1961) and
settled down to farm life. She began a small canning business from her farm
in Beeton, and was soon working at speaking engagements with the federal and
provincial departments of agriculture. She also began writing articles for
farm journals. By World War ll (1939-1945) she was Conservation Director for the Federal
Wartime Prices and Trade Board. This was an unpaid position which provided
Canadians with a advice to "Use it up, wear it out, make over, make do". She
soon found a position as women's editor at the Montreal Standard and had a
regular radio program popular across the country. She wrote
nine cook books which were still being reprinted in 2024! In addition she
was author of a half dozen other books including two autobiographical
publications. In 1941 she earned $25,000.00 a year compared to the
average wage for men of $3,000.00 per year. In 1950 she earned
$5,200.00 a week, one of the highest paid women in the
country. She was taping 600 radio broadcasts a year, making 150
speeches a year while still retaining her position as cooking editor of the
Montreal Standard newspaper. Her staff responded to 5,000 fan letters
a week! During her career she interviewed such world personalities as
Hitler, Mussolini, King George, queen Elizabeth, Franklin Roosevelt, and our
Canadian Prime Ministers, King, St Laurent, and Pearson.
After retiring from broadcasting in 1957 she turned her energies to working
for the United Nations, and UNICEF. Source: Canadian
encyclopedia, online; Find a Grave Canada online (accessed 2024) |
Margaret Aitken |
SEE- Politicians |
Rolande Allard - Lacerte
3892 |
Born July 17, 1929, Saint-Evariste-de-Forsyth, Quebec. Died
May 18, 2018, Quebec. Rolande began her career as a journalist working with
L'Ecole de Frontenac. From 1950 for eight years she worked at La
Tribune in Sherbrooke as a music critic, editorial writer and editor of
the women's pages. By 1961 she was working at Le Devoir, Montreal.
She also worked as a script writer for Radio-Canada. She was also known for
her contributions of articles to various French language publications. In
1965 she earned the Prix Maxine from the Association des bibliothèquaires de
langue française. Two years later she earned the Prix Marie-Lemelin from the
Société des poètes canadiens-français. In 1969 she was presented the Prix
Juge-Lemai by the Sherbrooke Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society. These were
followed by the Prix Athanase-David in 1970 and the Prix Judith-Jasmin in
1984 From 1988 to 1990 she served as president of the Cercle des
femmes journalistes. She was also known as an author of French language
books for children. (2022) |
Amaryllis |
SEE - Agnes Mary Scott |
Doris Hilda
Anderson |
née Buck. Born November 21, 1921, Calgary Alberta. Died Toronto,
Ontario March 2007. In 1940 she graduated from Teachers College. She taught
in the rural schools of Alberta to earn money to put herself through the
B.A. program at the University of Alberta in 1945. She moved to Toronto
hoping to find work as a journalist. She started with menial jobs at the
Toronto Star Weekly and as copywriter for Eaton’s Department Stores. In 1949
she decided that she wanted to write fiction and took off for Europe. She
did however maintain Canadian ties by writing stories for Maclean’s magazine
and Chatelaine Magazine. Returning to Canada in 1951 she worked at
Chatelaine , beginning a 20 year career becoming in 1957 editor in Chief of
the magazine. In 1957 she married David Anderson. The couple would have
three children but the marriage ended in divorce in 1972. In 1974 Doris
became a member of the Order of Canada, an award that was changed to
Companion of the Order in 2002. She ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the
House of Commons and accepted a position with the Canadian Advisory Council
on the Status of Women. Her strong personality would eventually see her
leave this position but not before pressure made sure that the new
Constitution recognized women as equals!. She was the YWCA Woman of
Distinction in 1982 and in 1991 she received the Governor’s General Persons
Award in recognition for her promotion of the equality for girls and women
in Canada. In 1993 she became Chancellor of the University of Prince Edward
Island. In 1998 she was Chair of the Ontario Press Council. In 1984 she
returned to her journalism roots working for the Toronto Star newspaper.
Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia online (accessed July 2011): Doris Hilda
Anderson by Jessica Bedaoui in Biographical Sketches of nine members of
the Canadian Women’s Press Club . Ottawa, Media Club of Ottawa, 2011.
Pages 4-5. |
Pat Annesley |
Born August
17, 1936 Tesdale, Saskatchewan. Died February 27, 2012, Vancouver, British
Columbia. At 15 she won a writing contest in which she was provided with a
full scholarship at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta. At 16 she won
a National Newspaper Award. She was hooked. Journalism was to be her career.
She worked at the Calgary, Albertan and the Herald, the
Edmonton Journal newspapers in Alberta as well as the Winnipeg Tribune in Manitoba. While at the
Tribune she
met Fred Annesley, a fellow reporter. The couple married and had two
children. She worked earning herself a daily column in the Toronto Telegram
newspaper and later for McLean’s magazine In the early 1970’s she ran Information
Services for TVOntario. She retired to Vancouver in 1983 still dappling with
some freelance writing.
Source: Loves
Lived by Belle Laderoule and David Cobb, The Globe and Mail, October
26, 2012.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario
|
Susan Jane
Anstey |
née
Scott. Born 1946. Died November 9, 2005, Nobleton, Ontario. Susan
chaired the task force that resulted in the creation of Jump Canada, and
established the Horse Sport Young Riders Scholarship Fund in 1998 to
recognize the top Canadian performers at the annual North American Young
Riders’ Championship in the three Olympic disciplines. An avid horsewoman,
Susan Jane competed and judged hunters/jumpers, bred and raced
Thoroughbreds, published Canada's leading horse magazines including Horse
Sport, Horse-Canada and Canadian Thoroughbred, and was a lifelong member of
The Toronto & North York Hunt. She made a significant contribution to horse
sport both nationally and internationally, serving as a director of Jump
Canada, chair of the Media Advisory Committee of the Federation Equestre
International (F E I) and, for the last 12 years, President of the
International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists. Equine Canada create the
Susan Jane Anstey Media Award to an exceptional individual who has delivered
outstanding media coverage which served to enhance the image of Canadian
equine interests to the Canadian Public.
Source: Obituary In Memorium.
November 11, 2005. Online. (accessed February 2016). |
Diane Armstrong
4873
Journalist & Historian |
Born 1937,
South Porcupine, Ontario. In 1956 Diane married Robert ‘Bob’ H. Armstrong
and the couple raised four children. In the early 1970’s Diane studied
photography at Northern College. From 1974 through 1978 she worked selling
advertising with the weekly Porcupine News. It was here that she began
writing with a camping column. She worked for 13 years with the Sudbury C B
C and helped prepare a weekly column on seniors for the C B C noon radio.
September 28, 1998 she became employed by the Timmins Daily Press to produce
a weekly column called Over The Hill. She estimated publishing some
1,300 columns when she celebrated her 25th anniversary with the
Daily Press. Her columns proved to be so popular that they have been
republished, beginning in 2000, in a four volume (so far) series of books
called Over the Hill. In 2013 she also published the story of her
pioneer grandmother in the book, Mud, Muskeg and Mosquitoes. Just to
keep busy she publishes on various facebook pages for local towns in
Northeast Ontario and on the facebook pages All things South Porcupine.
Source: I’ll Keep going as long as I’ve go a sharp mind, says local writer,
by Kay Butterworth, March 25, 2024, TimminsToday, online (accessed 2024)
|
Gladys
Marie Marguerite
Arnold |
Born October 2, 1905, Macoun, Saskatchewan. Died Saskatchewan
September 29, 2002. After high school she began teaching but by 1930 she
found herself working as a secretary at the Regina Leader-Post.
Journalism was to be her career. In 1935 she took a grain ship to France and
was on tour in France when World War ii broke out. Her happenstance allowed
her, as the only Canadian journalist on site, to post articles for the
Canadian Press. Between 1936 and 1941 when she was forced to flee Germany,
she became officially named Paris correspondent reporting firs hand on the
European conflict. After she fled Europe she dedicated herself to the plight
of France. She co-founded the Free the French Association in Canada and
traveled throughout North America with her compassionate plea. In 1941,
France asked her to return to report on post war life. Her work in France
garnered her the order of Chevalier de a Légion d’Honeur, the highest
distinction given by the grateful nation of France. In her 80’s her reports
from France became the base for her book: One Woman’s War. Returning
to Canada after the War she was head of the Information Service of the
French Embassy until retirement in 1971. She would become the subject of a
History Television documentary called Eyewitness to War. In 1948 and
1949 she was elected as president of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. With
her adventuresome spirit she never stopped looking for a good story. During
her lifetime she visited and reported from 60 difference countries. She also
established an additional legacy of perpetual scholarships in French
Language and Journalism at the University of Regina.
Sources: Biographical Sketches of Nine members of the Canadian Women’s Press
Club. Media Club of Ottawa, 2011 page 6. ; Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
online accessed July 2011. ; Gladys Arnold Eulogy October 2002. Online
(accessed July 31, 2011).
|
Audrey Ashley r
4496
Theatre Critic |
née Harris. Born August 1, 1927, Birmingham, England. Died
August 16, 2010, Stratford, Ontario. In 1948 Audrey married James Ashley and
the couple moved to Ottawa in 1951. She became Music and Drams Editor with
the Ottawa Citizen newspaper in October 1961 covering all the
local theatre companies including the Great Canadian Theatre Company and the
companies at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa. She also covered amateur
theatre groups such as the Ottawa Little Theatre and the Orpheus Society.
She also regularly covers the Stratford Festival and the Shaw Festival as
well as stage productions in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and New York City,
U.S.A. In 1985 she retired from her permanent job and relocated to Stratford
Ontario and worked free-lance with the Ottawa Citizen and the
Stratford Beacon Herald. By the time she had retired she was the longest
serving regular theatre critic in Canada. In 1999 she published
With Love From Butch; A Stratford Actor. Source: Canadian
Theatre Encyclopedia online (accessed 2024) |
Alice Asselin |
This
journalist was the wife of Olivar Joseph Francois Asselin, the founder and
proprietor of the newspaper Le Nationaliste, of Montreal. She was a working
reporter and correspondent for Le Nationaliste. In 1904 she was a member of
a group of women journalists sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railroad to
travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It was during this train trip
that the Canadian Women's Press Club was founded. |
Vera Lyla Helen Ayling |
née Daye.
Born February 4, 1906, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died January 21, 1999, New
Brunswick. She
enjoyed writing even in public school. In grade eight she wrote a story about a
child in World War l (1914-1918) and won a Saint John city wide prize for her work. In
her 20’s her stories were published in the United Church Sunday School Papers. She also wrote stories and plays for radio. In the late 1920’s and
early 1930’s she worked at the New Brunswick Museum Archives. On June 22,
1937 she married Arthur Richard Ayling and settled in Moncton, New
Brunswick. The couple had two sons. After her marriage she wrote stories for
the popular national publication the Family Herald and the
Canadian Red Cross Junior Magazine. Vera joined the Canadian Women’s
Press Club in 1944 where she served numerous times as president of the New
Brunswick Branch as well as serving on the National Executive several times.
She was a feature writer for the Saint John Telegraph-Journal, a
career that covered 65 years. McClelland and Stewart Publishers took note of
her work and she began writing for their Canadian School Readers series
where she had stories published as early as 1948. These school readers were
used in schools for three decades. She also published Arrivals and
Departures; American School Readers (Allyn & Bacon Inc., 1957).
Arrivals and Departures: American School Readers (Allyn & Bacon Inc., 1957). She is perhaps best remembered by the public work her stories about
families, farm life, and New Brunswick handcrafts which appeared in numerous
national publications as well as H. Gordon Green’s book Canadian
Handcrafts.
Sources:
Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada. 1991. (s.l.; 1991) ; Vera Ayling
Collections , New Brunswick Archives provided by Reference services, New
Brunswick Archives September 2014. |
Irene Baird-Grierson |
SEE - Authors |
Ashleigh Banfield |
Born December
29, 1967, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She earned her B.A. at Queens University,
Kingston, Ontario. Her first job was as a reporter in Kenora, Ontario. From
1989 through 1992 she worked on the evening news in Edmonton, Alberta.
While in Calgary she was awarded two IRIS Awards. She moved to work in the
U.S.A. and earned an Emmy as Best News Anchor when she worked in Dallas at
KDFW TV. She also won the Texas Associated Press Award for best series “To
Serve and Survive”. She is remembered for her live reporting for 8 days
straight after 9/11. She married June 29, 2002 to Harold Gould and the
couple have two sons. |
Mary Morrison Baker |
Born Southern Ireland. Mary credits her time at boarding school with
teaching her to be independent and also proving her with a high standard of
conduct. She attended the National University of Ireland and then studied in
France. Mary cultivated her writing shills as a teen when articles were
published in the London Daily Express newspaper. She married James Baker of
Sydney, Australia in 1942. The couple lived in various locations while
becoming parents to four children. In 1954 they moved to Canada where Mary
shortly after became a widow. She kept her family together by holding
various jobs including buying and selling antiques. In 1964 and 1967 her
writings won her the Senator Cairine Wilson Citizenship Trophy when she
wrote of her home in Prince Edward Island. She was also editor of the
Women’s Institute News from 1959-1963. In 1980 she had a weekly TV antiques
show in PEI.
Source: Outstanding women of Prince Edward Island Compiled by the Zonta Club
of Charlottetown, 1981. |
Laura Banks |
née Brow.
Born 1914 (?) Died November 1988. She began a successful TV broadcasting
career under the name of Laura Lindsay at C F R N TV in Edmonton. From 1955
though 1968 she had her own show on homemaking. The show was live and
unrehearsed and after the show she washed the dishes and cleaned up the set
by herself! In 1964 she published a book, Laura’s Recipes that sold 30,000
copies. |
Marcelle Barthe
'Francoise' |
Born September 26, 1904, Ottawa, Ontario. Died November 24,
1965, Montreal, Quebec. In 1929 Marcelle founded a dramatic society called La Rampe in Ottawa where she preformed for almost 10 years. In 1933 she began
working at radio C K C H in Hull, across the river from Ottawa. Here she had a
weekly programme Pour Vous Mesdames using the pseudonym 'Francoise'. She was
the 1st bilingual woman hired by this radio station. Prior to World War 11
she travelled to Europe to study other national radio stations. There is a
park in Montreal named in her honour and a street in Gatineau, Quebec also
has been named in her honour. By 1938 she became the 1st bilingual female
hired by the CBC Radio. She covered the Royal visit of the King and Queen in
1939 and a second royal visit in 1951 of Princess Elizabeth and Prince
Philip. |
Lily Emily Frances Barry
4471 |
Born August 3, 1864, Montreal, Quebec. Died
April 7, 1955, Ottawa, Ontario. Lily graduated from McGill University,
Montreal. She also took a three-year course at the Ottawa Art School before
traveling in Europe. Lily was primarily a journalist who also published
short stories and verses in various newspapers and periodicals. For a
short time she worked in New York City, U.S.A. but returned to Canada in
1896 working as an editor with the Montreal Star until 1909. She edited the
Woman's, Young People's, and Children's pages under the pen name 'Primrose'
for the Family Herald and weekly. As 'The Hostess' she wrote the
correspondence column. In 1900 she was a special correspondent for
The Star at the Paris, France, Exposition. In 1901 She published
In Paths of Peace. In 1909 she assisted with the
anti-tuberculosis campaign for the Royal Edward Institute. She went on
to work with the Montreal Red Cross during World War l (1914-1918) and then
with the Catholic Social Service Guild. In 1916 she enrolled at Loyola
College, Montreal, studying sociology where, after graduation, she lectured.
She was a member of the Canadian Women's Press Club (C W P C) from 1930
until 1945 while working as the literary editor for the Montreal Gazette
newspaper. She was also an active member of the Canadian Authors
Association, The Woman's Canadian Club, and the Imperial Order of the
Daughters of the Empire (I O D E). She was also an accomplished visual
artist exhibiting her sculptures and paintings with the Art Association of
Canada winning prizes for her model clay works in Montreal. In 1940 she won
a Quebec Music Festival Prize for the best sonnet. Source: E
C W W (accessed 2024) |
Robertine Barry |
Born
February 26, 1863, L’isle-Verte, Lower Canada. Died January 7, 1910,
Montreal, Quebec. A well
known personality in Montreal society Robertine was a pioneer feminist lecturer
and writer. She is considered the first woman journalist in French Canada.
She joined the staff of the weekly newspaper La Patrie in 1891. Her column
was written for almost then years under the nom de plume of 'Francoise'. She
would go on in her career to found Le Journal d Francoise, published from
1902-1909. She also would publish books of her short stories. In 1900 she
was one of the Canadian government representatives to the famous Paris
International Exhibition in France. In 1904 the government of France named her as an
“Officer de l’Acaémie”
She was part of the
group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go to the St Louis
World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established the Canadian
Women's Press Club, with herself being elected at vice president.
(2024) |
Gertrude Balmer - Watt |
née Hogg. Born 1879, Guelph, Ontario. Died 1963.
Gertrude married Arthur Balmer Watt in 1900. She began her journalism career
with the Woodstock Sentinel-Review where she used the byline “Peggy”. The
young couple moved to Alberta in 1905. Arthur was a newspaper editor who
worked with various Edmonton newspapers including the Edmonton Journal. They
were stanch supporters of women’s rights and her articles on life of western
women were published in various Canadian newspapers including the Globe and
Mail in Toronto. In 1904 she was among a group of lady journalists who were
sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway to travel and cover the St Louis
World's Fair. It was during this train trip that the Canadian Women's Press
Club was founded. After the St Louis World’s Fair she would establish the
Edmonton Chapter of the Canadian Women's Press Club and along with her continued newspaper columns
would write several books on women and life in the Canadian west. |
Elizabeth Barclay |
See - Social Activists - Emily Spencer Kirby |
Isabel
Glenthrne Bassett |
née Macdonald. Born August
23, 1939, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Isabel earned her Bachelor of Arts from Queen's University,
Kingston, Ontario, and went on to earn a Master's degree from York
University, Toronto, Ontario, in 1973. Earning her Teacher's Diploma she
taught French and English at Humberside Collegiate Institute, Toronto,
Ontario. In the 1960's she became a journalist for the Toronto Telegram
and later joined C T V as a reporter and documentary producer. She married
John Bassett (1915-1998) on July 17, 1967. In 1993 she ran unsuccessfully
for the House of Commons. In 1995 she was elected in the Ontario Provincial
election. In 1997 she was appointed Ontario Minister of Citizenship, Culture
and Recreation. She did not win in the 1999 Ontario Provincial election and
from 1999 through 2005 she was the chair and CEO of TVOntario, Ontario's
provincial public television network. There was some controversy with Isabel
working at TVO as she was in a common law relationship with Ernie Eves then
Premier of Ontario. In 2016 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario
and in June of that year she became a Member of the Order of Canada. |
Jessie Tarbox
Beals |
née Tarbox. Born 1870, Hamilton, Ontario. Died
May 30 1942, New York City, New York, U.S.A. At 18 Jessie left Canada to
teach in Williamsburg, Massacheutts, U.S.A. where she settled for ten years.
in 1897 she married Alfred Beals and in 1902
the couple worked as itinerate
photographers with Jessie taking the photographs and Alfred processing the
photos in the dark room. When some of her photographs were published in a
Vermont newspaper she earned the title as 1st woman photo journalist in
North America. She is perhaps best known for her work at the
1904 World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri and as the official photographer of
Greenwich Village in New York City. The couple settled in New York City in
1905. By 1917 they were divorces but Jessie carried on with her profession
and bringing up their daughter. She took photographs of the homes and
gardens of the wealthy which were published in garden magazines. She
struggled during the Great Depression and died in poverty.
(2019) |
Florence Diamond
Bean |
Born 1910,
Minto Township, Wellington County, Ontario. Died 1993. As a young lady,
Florence she
took a secretarial course in Toronto, Ontario. She married Clarence Diamond
and later married Ellworth Bean. From 1977 to 1980 she was president of the
Ontario Federated Women’s Institutes. She too leadership roles in conference
of the Associated Country Women of the World. Florence was an active member of
the Waterloo Farm and Home Safety Council, the Wilmot Agricultural Society,
the Wilmot Horticultural Society, and the Waterloo Historical Society. She
was the Haysville correspondent for the Kitchener - Waterloo Record for 30
years and had a radio career with C F R B in Toronto. In 1990 she was the
Wilmot Citizen of the year. She was also presented with a Queen’s Jubilee
Medal. Source: Waterloo Regional Hall of Fame. Online (accessed July 2014)
(2022) |
Jeann Beatie |
See - Authors |
Carol Gay Bell |
Born Regina, Saskatchewan. After high school she earned her Bachelor of Arts
from the University of Manitoba. She added to her schooling in Radio and
Television Arts at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University), Toronto, Ontario, where
she received the silver medal as outstanding female graduate. She began her
career as a journalist and was the C B C’s 1st female announcer for
radio and television, the 1st Saskatchewan producer of musical
variety on C B C Television, Canada’s 1st female jazz disc jockey,
and a actress in the first live drama on Saskatchewan’s C K C K television. Off
the job she became the first certified baton-twirling judge in western
Canada, and coordinated the first musical theater program at the
Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts. She is the founder of the
Saskatchewan Roughrider Cheerleaders Squad in 1960 and remained as director
though to 1977. As part of Canada’s 1967 Centennial Carol initiated the
Saskatchewan Express, a touring show with Saskatchewan performers. This
program would hatch the Saskatchewan Talent Program in the performing arts.
She and her husband, Vern, worked full time with the troupe to Celebrate
Saskatchewan’s 75th Anniversary as a province. She has been
recognized for her efforts in 1985 as the YWCA Woman of the Year,
professional category. In 1986 she won the Larry Schneider Communications and
Leadership Award a, in 1997 she received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, and
in October 2008 she was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada.
Source: City of Regina. History. Online. (accessed January 2012.) ; Order of
Canada Online (accessed January 2012) (2022) |
Margaret Benedictsson
|
See - Social Activists |
Louise Bennett - Coverley
Miss Lou
Black Broadcaster |
Born September 7, 1919, Kingston,
Jamaica. Died July 26, 2006, Toronto, Ontario. Louise
was one of the first Black women broadcasters in the 1940’s. While still as
student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England, she hosted
a radio show called Caribbean Carnival. After she emigrated to Toronto she
used her knowledge of her culture, the stories and songs, sa a basis for her
radio shows which included ‘Laugh with Louise’, ‘Miss Lou’s Views’ and
educated Jamaican immigrant children with her TV show ‘Ring Ding’. She
married Eric ’Chalktalk’ Coverley and they had a son and many ‘adopted’
children. Miss Lou as she was known, had been made a member of the Order of
the British Empire and had received an honorary doctorate from York
University, Toronto and another from the University of the West Indies. She
died the night she was to be presented with the 2006 Jamaica Independence
Award Hall of Fame from the West Indian American Association of New Jersey.
Louise is buried in Kingston, Jamaica.
Source: Miss Lou, 86: Bedrock of Canadian culture by Philip Mascoll,
The
Toronto Starr, August 1, 2006. (2022) |
Marie-Angèle 'Jovette' Alice Bernier |
Born November 27, 1900, Saint-Fabien-de-Rimouski, Quebec.
Died 1981, Longueuil, Quebec. Like may young women of her era Marie-Angele
went to Normal School (teachers' College) and then taught in the Gaspé
region before relocating to Quebec City. In 1923 she began her career as a
journalist. She wrote for L'Evénement, Quebec City, La Tribune,
Sherbrooke and L'Illustration, Montreal. Turing to work for radio
in 1932 she worked at radio station C K A C, Montreal. From 1939 for almost
20 years she hosted the radio show Quelles nouvelles. From 1963 to
1965 she wrote scripts for the soap opera Rue de L'Anse. Jovette also was
known for her poetry with five collections of her works published between
1924 and 1945. Her first novel La chair décevante in 1931 was
considered somewhat scandalous. In 1969 she penned Non Monsieur which
earned the Prix du Cercle du livre de France. Rue Jovette-Bernier in
Sherbrooke in named in her honour as is a street in Quebec City. The Prix
Jovette-Bernier, an annual literary award, was created in her honour.
(2022) |
Madeleine Bernier r4578 |
Born February 6, 1920, St Boniface, Manitoba.
Died May 11, 2017, Winnipeg, Manitoba. After graduating from St.
Joseph's Academy in Winnipeg, Madeleine began working for the Canadian
Department of National Revenue. She became a journalist and worked as
an assistant editor of the Women's Page of the Winnipeg Free Press.
Back then journalism was a male dominated profession and she had to earn
respect as a journalist. She switched papers to
work as music critic for The Winnipeg Tribune for 15 years. She also
wrote radio dramas for the French Radio-Canada. She became the first
woman to serve as a board member of the Winnipeg Press Club after women
journalists demanded they be let into the Press Club. She was also an active
volunteer member of her Catholic church and worked at Winnipeg's Agape
Table. She lived in a Catholic Parish that was made made up of Italian
immigrants and she learned Italian to join to sing with her neighbours. She would al work on the committee of the Manitoba Centennial
Corporation. Source: Memorable Manitobans online
(accessed 2024); Obituary, C B C online (accessed 2024) |
Francis
Marion Beynon
Dixie
Patton
Ginty Beynon
|
Born
May 21, 1884, Streetsville, Ontario. Died October 5, 1951, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In
1879 her family relocated to farm in Manitoba. She earned her teacher's
certificate and taught near Carman, Manitoba. In 1909 she and her sister,
Lilian Beynon Thomas (1871-1961), moved to Winnipeg where she worked for the
T. Eaton Company. From 1912 for five years she was the editor
of
the women's page of the Grain Growers Guide, an influential Prairie
magazine. Using the pen name 'Dixie Patton' she also wrote for the
children's pages. A journalist,
feminist, and social reformer, she was a determined individual who
wrote of votes for women, marriage and family structure. She was a
pacifist and resigned her position at the Grain Growers Guide over views on World War I.
She and her sister helped to found the Quill Club and the Winnipeg
Branch of the Canadian Womens Press Club that had been founded in 1904. She
stood up for women's suffrage and was one of the organizers of the Manitoba
Political Equality League. Marion felt that women should stand on their own
feet and that both husband and wife should share responsibility for success.
In 1917 she moved to New York City, U.S.A. In 1919 she published a
semi-autobiographical novel, Aleta Day. In New York she and her
sister worked at the Seamen's Church Institute, an Episcopalian Mission for
sailors. 1922-1925 she was the editor of the mission's
publication The Lookout. She used the pen name Ginty Beynon
over the next 25 years writing as a freelance journalist. She returned to
Canada in 1951 just shortly before her death.
|
Mary Elizabeth
Bibb
First Black Woman Journalist in Canada
National Historic Person
|
née
Miles Born 1820, Rhode Island, U.S.A. Died 1877, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. .
Mary was born a free Black Quaker and was privileged to be educated ,
graduating from Normal School (Teacher’s College) in Lexington,
Massachusetts. She was one of the first Black women teachers in North
America. In 1847 she met her future husband Henry Bibb ( d. 1854) who was an
escaped slave, at an anti-slave rally in New York City. The couple were wed
a year latter and settled in Boston. In 1850 the couple fled to Canada after
the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law which could have caused Henry to be
re-enslaved. Settling in Sandwich, Canada West (now known as Windsor,
Ontario) the couple played a key role in the famous Underground Railroad
that helped escaped slaves settle in Canada. The co-published the newspaper
The Fugitive Voice beginning in 1851. Mary is credited with being the first
Black woman journalist in Canada. Later her sister-in-law Mary Shadd Cary
would become the first Black woman publisher of a newspaper. Mary Bibb also
operated a dress making business and taught both adult Black and their
children in a class in her own home. She fought for Black schooling in the
area for several years. After Henry’s death she carried on until 1871 when
she returned to the USA. She and Henry were declared Persons of National
Historic Significance by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in
2002.
Sources: Section15.ca ; Merna Forster 100 more Canadian Heroines;
Famous and Forgotten Faces (Toronto; Dundurn Press, 2011. ) |
Arlene Billinkoff
|
Born March 27, 1942, Winnipeg, Manitoba. . Died March 23, 2009, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Arlene lived
in New York City for a short time and had good memories of working on the
political campaign of John F. Kennedy. Returning to Canada, she earned her
degree in economics and political Science at the University of Manitoba. She
joined the staff of the
Winnipeg Free Press
in 1964, working in the women’s section. She left the newspaper when
complaints of inequality of pay with male reporters were ignored. She
travelled in Europe a few months only to return to a job at the newspaper
which met her demands. From 1970 through 1994 she was the well respected
legislative reporter, writing the column Under the Dome. She was
also known as a supporter and mentor for young reporters. She enjoyed being
a participant , even after her retirement, in the “Beer and Skits” political
satire productions at the Winnipeg Press Club. She received the
Queen Elizabeth II
Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Sources: Lives
Lived, Globe and Mail July 20, 2009: Memorable Manitobans,
Online (accessed December 2011) |
Georgina Binnie-Clark |
Born April 25, 1871, Dorset, England. Died April 22, 1947, London,
England. A journalist, perhaps in
search of a story, she decided to came to visit her brother’s farm in
Saskatchewan and fell in love with the area. She also felt that she would be
a better farmer than her brother. In 1905 she purchased land in the
Qu’Appelle Valley in Southern Saskatchewan. As a woman she was not eligible
to apply for or receive the free land offered in Western Canada. She sold
her grain in the open market and was a critic of privately controlled
grain-marketing systems. She would go to Ottawa in 1908 and protest for
equality for women farmers. It was not until 1930 when the federal
government handed land control over to the prairie provinces would single
women farmers get their demands. Meanwhile in 1910, Georgina opened her
farm to train other single women wishing to learn farming. She also
continued her writings and left behind a rich detailed account of social
life and daily farm life in the settlement of the Canadian prairies. During
World War l, the British Government appointed Georgina and 6others to train
women to work the land. Her own personal war effort was a children’s book
from which proceeds were used to help wounded solders and their horses. She
began ladies dress making business in London to stabilize her finances while
still managing her Canadian Farm. Her ashes were spread on her lands in
Saskatchewan. Source: 100 more Canadian Heroines by Merna Forster (Dundurn
2011) |
Martha Blackburn 4546 |
Born October 9, 1944, London, Ontario. Died
August 15, 1992. In 1975 she became the controlling shareholder of the
Blackburn Group Inc. In 1984 she became chair and president and was
responsible radio stations. London Free Press Printing Company, Netmar
Inc., Blackburn Marketing Services and Blackburn Holdings Ltd. Her
father had established the Walter J. Blackburn Foundation and Martha was a
founding member. The Fondation provided grants to charitable organizations
in health, education, welfare, the environment and the arts. Martha
would serve on numerous boards including Canadin Press, the Ontario Press
Council and the Michener Awards Foundation. In 1993 she was inducted
into the Canadian Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Source: Canadian
Broadcasters Hall of Fame online (accessed 2024) |
Victoria Grace
Blackburn
Fanfan |
SEE - Authors |
Christie Marie
Blatchford
3492 |
Born May 20, 1951, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. Died February 12,
2020, Toronto, Ontario. While she was still in high school the family
relocated to Toronto in 1970. After secondary school she attended Ryerson
University where as a student she worked for the university paper The
Ryersonian and also worked part time at the Globe and Mail newspaper.
In 1975 Christie started her journalism career
working as Canada's first female sports Columnist at the
Globe and Mail newspaper. In 1977 through 1982 she switched to working
as a feature writer for the Toronto Star. In 1982 she began a column
with The Sun newspaper in Toronto, which wrote for 16 years. She
published two collections of her humour-oriented columns from The Sun
in the late 1980's. In the 1990's she was again writing feature articles
many covered criminal trials. In 1998 she began writing for the new player
in town, The National Post. In 1999 she earned the National Newspaper
Award for her column work. By 2003 she was back with the Globe and Mail
doing a column as well as feature articles. In 2008 her book Fifteen
Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New
Canadian Army won the 2008 Governor General's Literary Award for
non-fiction writing. She continued to pen books, Helpless:
Caledonia's Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed of of Us,
which concerned the Grand River land dispute. In all she published four full
length books. She was a welcome guest on radio C F R B and returned to the
National Post in 2011. In 2019 she was inducted into the Canadian News Hall
of Fame. Source: Obituaries |
Jean Blewett
Katherine Kent |
SEE - Authors |
Marie Louise Yvette Denise Bombardier |
Born January 18, 1941, Montreal, Quebec. Died
July 4, 2023, Montreal, Quebec. Denise attended the Université de Montréal
earning a Master's Degree in political science in 1971. In 1970 she had left
her husband and in 1973 married Claude Sylvestre and the couple had one son.
She went on to earn her Doctorate (PhD) in sociology in 1974 from the
Sorbonne in France. e She worked as a research assistant for the Radio
Canada television program Aujourd'hui. In 1975 she began to host
television programs such as Présent international, and Hebdo-dimanche.
She also hosted Noir sur blanc which was the public
affairs program to be hosted by a woman in Quebec. In 1985 she and her
husband were separated for a short time before reconnecting and then became
divorce. By 1987 she was host of Trait-d'union and also participated
on L'envers de la médaille. In 1993 she was inducted as a Knight or
the French Legion of Honour. In 1999 she hosed and was a producer of the
radio science program Les Années lumières. As a print journalist her
articles were often controversial and were published in Le Monde, Le
Devoir, L'Express de Toronto, Châtelaine, Le Point and L'Actualité.
She also wrote several books from 1975 through 2009. In 2000 she became a
Knight in the National Order of Quebec. In 2003 she was fired via e-mail
from the public television network Radio Canada for engaging in debate on
same-sex marriage with the spokesperson for Quebec Gay Archives. In 2007 she
wrote the song La diva for singer Céline Dion and would later publish a
book: L'énigmatique Céline Dion. She married for a third time to
James 'Jim' Jackson a professor of French literature from Dublin, Ireland.
In 2015 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2o19 she wrote a
column The Decline of Whites noting the demographic switch with
whites becoming the minority and suggested that by 2050 whites would be a
minority in several countries. (2024) |
Mabel Ellen Boultbee |
née
Springer. Born April 29, 1875, Moodyville, British Columbia. Died February 2,
1953, Vancouver,
British Columbia. She was the first white child born on Burrard Inlet. After her marriage dissolved she ran a school with her
sister, Eva in the 1890’s. She next took up journalist, a career she
embraced for 30 years. She wrote for the women’s pages of the Vancouver Sun
newspaper. During the 1930 and 1940’s the apartment of Mabel and Eva was
renowned among the social elite.
Source:
Who's Who (accessed June 2009) |
Marsha Elaine
Boulton |
Born 1952, Toronto, Ontario. She studied at the University of Guelph which is
a little ironic. Guelph
is known more as an agricultural school than for the arts and she lives on a
sheep farm and is listed in the Canadian Who’s Who as a shepherd and an
author. A successful journalist she combined her love of history and humour
in her works. She won the Leacock Award for humorous writing in 1996. She
has done regular columns in Maclean’s Magazine, and written CBC
productions. She writes anecdotal Canadian history books which began with
Just a Minute: Glimpses of Our Great Canadian Heritage (Toronto
: McArthur & Co., 1994) In 1998 she was the YWCA Woman of Distinction.
|
Broder, Bride |
SEE - Georgina Cecilia Mary White |
Marie Louise Brodeur 4555
Louyse de Bienville |
née Marmette. Born March 29, 1870, Quebec City,
Quebec. Died May 2, 1928, Montreal, Quebec. Marie Louise was the only child
to survive in her family and she was the granddaughter of historian
Francoise-Xavier Garneau. She studies with the Ursulines of Quebec and then
at the Congregation of Notre-Dame, Ottawa. She also studied in Paris, France
when she accompanied her father on business. She married Donat Brodeur (died
1920) on July 6, 1892 in Ottawa and the couple had eight children. As a
writer Marie Louise used the pen name Louyse de Bienville. Between 1902 and
1909 she wrote for the Journal de Françoise which had been founded by
Robertine Barry (1863-1910). She also contributed to such publications as
Pour vous medames, La Bonne Parole, and Revue moderne. She was
interested in feminism, current affairs, the Great War (1914-1918) ,
especially the contribution of the women of France. After her death her
daughter Marguerite collected some of her writings and published them in the
book, Figures et paysages, in 1931. Source: D C B
(2024) |
Bernice R. Brown |
SEE - Social Activists |
Cassie Eileen Brown |
SEE - Authors |
Lois Brown |
SEE - Authors |
Ada Almira Brown-Reid
3851 |
Born October 28, 1874, Cantley, Quebec. Died May 4,1948,
Kirk's Ferry, Quebec. Ada was a prize-winning student when she attended the
one room school in Cantley. At the age of 14 she became the valley
correspondent for the Ottawa Evening Telegram newspaper between 1895
and 1907. She wrote about the climate, the soils of Quebec, the
seasons and the types of crops and animals on local farms. Her efforts
garnered her $30.00 a year, a subscription to the paper, and a pad of
yellow paper on which to write her reports. In 1905 she married Charles
Howard Reid (1878-1958) and the couple settled in Kirk's Ferry where the
couple raised their five children. Source: Notable
Women of Gatineau Valley & the Outaouais online (accessed 2022); Find a
Grave Canada (accessed 2022) |
Cecily Brownstone
3899 |
Born April 18, 1909, Plum Coulee, Manitoba. Died August 30,
2005, New York City, U.S.A. Cecily graduated from the University of
Manitoba, Winnipeg. She relocated to New York City, U.S.A. to continue her
studies and to find work. She would eventually settle in Greenwich Village.
She became Food Editor for the well known magazine Parents and the
Child Care editor for Family Circle magazine. From 1947 though 1986
she published five recipe columns and two food features for the non-profit
news agency, Associated Press, with her columns appearing in publications
throughout the United States and a number of other countries. In 1972 she
published Cecily Brownstone's Associated Press Cookbook. Outside of
journalism she was a consultant to the president of Cuisinart company
and with him she edited the magazine Pleasures of Cooking. They also
wrote the cookbook: Classic Cakes and other Great Cuisinart
Desserts in 1994. She also published a book for children called All
Kinds of Mothers which she had illustrated by her niece Miriam Brofsky
Kley. (2022) |
Suzanne
'Suzy'
Rochon Brunett
Métis Broadcaster
|
Born March
10, 1935, St. Adéle, Quebec. Died April 2, 2006. After high school Suzy
attended business college in St. Jerome, Quebec. In 1950 St. Jerome radio
hired her and by 20 she was writing newspaper columns as well as hosting two radio shows along with handling
public relations for the radio stations. She
began taking public relations and marketing course at McGill University,
Montreal. She travelled internationally to cover newsworthy event.. She
tried taking modeling classes and moved to New York City, U.S.A. to appear in
television commercials. By the 1960’s she had purchased an old lodge in the
Laurentian Mountains and turned it into an art gallery. She met and married
a radio station owner, Gordon Burnett, and the couple settled in St.
Catherines, Ontario. Once their daughter was in school, Suzy became
involved with the production of a French language radio show which she
produced in her own home studio. The Ontario Ministry of Culture picked up
the show for stations across the province. She became the French culture
expert for the C B C production of Morningside. By 1980 she used her avocation
for art to raise awareness of First Nation’s issues with her new company
Kakekalanicks Inc. She served as a Board member for TV Ontario, the
educational public television. 1987
Rochon-Burnett was presented with an eagle feather in recognition of her
efforts to save a totem pole carved by Squamish carver Chief Mathias Joe and
in 2001 she received a Meritorious Service Award in recognition of her
contributions to Native Friendship Centres in Ontario. In 1995 she
purchased a country music radio station in Welland, Ontario becoming
the first indigenous person in Canada to own a private commercial radio station.
She
has received an Eagle Feather, Canada’s highest First Nations honour, A
Woman of Distinction Award, the Governor’s General Confederacy Medal, the
Order of Ontario. She is the first woman inducted into the Canadian
Council for Aboriginal Business Hall of fame.
Source:
Great women from our First Nations by Kelly Fournel (Second Story Press,
2007) |
Helen Spinks Burgess 4,114 |
Born 1920, Newmarket, Ontario. Died April 16, 1994, Winnipeg,
Manitoba. After marriage Helen raised four Children. In 1965 she began
working as a civil servant with the Canadian Department of Indian Affairs
and Northern Development in public relations and as an editor with the
magazine North. In 1970 the family relocated to Winnipeg where she worked as
an assistant editor of the Hudson's Bay Company Publication The Beaver
( Now Canada's History). She was promoted to editor in 1972 and
served in that position until 1985. In 1977 she and archivist of the H B C,
Shirlee Anne Smith (1929-2008) established the publishing firm of Watson &
Dwyer using their Mothers' maiden names. They specialized in western
Canadian books and books about the history of the fur trade in Canada.
Source: Memorable Manitobans online
(accessed 2022) |
Angela Burke - Kerrigan
4504 |
Born October 3, 1920, Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.
Died September 30, 2014, Knowlton, Quebec. Angela's parents left their
hometown of Timmins, Ontario and relocated to Buffalo, New York just prior
to her birth leaving Angela with a dual citizenship. Angela was called
'Bunny' by her friends and family. In 1938 she and her sister spent a year
in France and touring Europe where their Franco-Canadian French helped her
feel comfortable. Angela graduated from McGill University, Montreal. During
World War ll she gave up her U. S. citizenship to work for the British
Embassy in Washington D. C., U.S.A. After the war, she returned to Canada
and began her newspaper career at the Timmins Daily Press. In 1946
she took journalism courses at Columbia University in New York City.
She became the first female reporter on the city beat for the Toronto
Star newspaper in 1951 and she would become by 1955 known as 'the globe
trotting girl reporter' with her overseas reporting. In 1956 she was on he
way to New York City in the U S where she set sail for the spring fairytale
royal wedding of grace Kelly and Prince Reiner of Monaco. In 1957 she was
reporting on Elvis in concert describing Elvis as 'dangerously charming'.
She also interviewed crooner Frank Sinatra and said 'he was electric'. Her
most unforgettable interview was with Helen Keller when the questions were
tapped on her hand by her companion. In 1960 she was working with the C B C
on a show in Ottawa. By Centennial year in 1967 she was working as public
relations director at the Centennial Commission. She also covered the Royal
Commission on the Status of Women. In 1972 she married Richard
Kerrigan who she had first met during her days as a student. In retirement
she had wanted to write a collection of her memoirs describing her
adventures in reporting. After the death of her sister in 1977 she became
guardian for her two nieces. Source: Female Reporter made
history in her industry by Fred Langan The Globe and Mail October 31,
2014. online (accessed 2024). |
Mabel Grace Burkholder |
SEE - Authors |
Virginia Luella
'Ginger' Byfield |
née Naim. Born
March 26, 1929, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. Died July 21, 2014, Edmonton,
Alberta. When her parents separated Ginger grew up in Greenfield, Nova Scotia,
with her mother’s family before settling in Ottawa. As a student at the
University of Toronto (U of T) she wrote for the school’s Communist newspaper.
Dropping out of school she followed Ted Byfield to Timmins, Ontario, and
worked at the Times Press. The newspaper would only hire her if she
was married so she and Ted married. Relocating to Ottawa she worked at the
Ottawa Journal On
the move again the couple relocated to Alberta where she worked on the
Alberta Report Magazine and the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper. In Selkirk,
Manitoba the couple founded the Company of the Cross, a lay order of the
Anglican Church of Canada. They opened in 1957 the St John’s Boys School. In
1968 she worked on a newsletter, St John’s Edmonton Report. The
couple trained
numerous young journalists and their home was often a bunkhouse for their
students. Their final joint project was the editing of a 12 volume History
of Christianity.
Source: Peter
Shawn Taylor, Formidable Editor Left and Indelible Mark , Toronto Globe
and Mail August 2, 2014. Suggestion submitted by
June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario
|
Jean Elizabeth Caine
4547 |
Born 1923. Died January 8, 2014, Oakville,
Ontario. Jean worked at the beginning of her career as an actor on
commercials and in dramatic roles in the Toronto-Hamilton area and then on
the Hamilton radio station C K O C as a writer and women's Editor. She
married Howard Caine and the couple funded Oakville radio station C H W O in
November 1956. As the community grew so did the number of radio stations the
she ownwd. When she became a widow in 1967 she became president and manager
of C HW O and soon trained her son Michael in the business known as the
Golden Horseshoe Radio Network. The various stations provide Christian-based
programming and multi language radio serving the diverse ethnic community of
Greater Toronto. The company was sold in 2008.She was active in her home
community receiving the Ability Fund Award from the Rehabilitation Council
for the Disabled. She also received the Central Canada Broadcasters
Association Howard Caine Memorial Award in 1978. In 1987 she was Oakville's
Business Person of the Year. In 1995 she was inducted into the CAB Broadcast
Hall of Fame. The Jean and Howard Caine Apartments open by the March
of Dimes' Non-Profit Housing Corporation, houses some 40 people with
physical challenges. Source: CAB Broadcasters Hall of
Fame online (accessed 2024); obituary online (accessed 2024). |
June Callwood |
SEE - Social Activists. |
Agnes Deans Cameron |
Born December 20, 1863, Victoria, British Columbia. Died May 13, 1912,
Victoria, British Columbia. At 16 Agnes, Like so many women of her
era, was teaching at public schools in British Columbia. She also taught at
a girl's school and then boy's school and by 1890 she became the 1st woman
high school teacher in British Columbia. Moving on she became in 1894 the
1st woman to hold an administrative office in a co-educational school in
Victoria. She became the co-founder the British Columbia Teacher's Institute
where she was often speaking on such topics as equality for women. During
this time she began a career in journalism writing for Victoria's
newspapers. She went on to author article in various periodicals and in 1902
she became an associate editor for the Educational Journal of eastern
Canada. In 1906 she served as president of the Dominion Educational
Association. She was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU), the local the Local Council of Women, and the Dominion Women's
Enfranchisement Association. Agnes work at schools was not all smooth
sailing. She was, in 1890, charged with inappropriate discipline of a
student, in 1901 she was accused of insubordination, and in 1905 the was
charged with other teachers for allowing students to cheat. The last charge
ended with her losing teaching license for three years. Agnes joined the
Canadian Women's Pres Club and turned to writing full time. In 1908 she and
a niece, Jessie Cameron Brown were the 1st white women traveled
overland to the Arctic Ocean. They published their exploits in The New North
in 1910.She would also travel to England an promote immigration for the
Canadian government. |
Joyce Carter |
Born March
26, 1930, Toronto, Ontario . Died November 3, 2011, Toronto, Ontario. Joyce
had no love of formal schooling and dropped out of high school to work at
various jobs. She found her niche when she began reporting for the
Kitchener-Waterloo Record newspaper. In her twenties she met fellow writer
Clayton Derstine. The couple would marry with the birth of their only child
in 1965. In the early 1960’s the couple made the move to Toronto after she
had won the Judy Award for promoting Canadian Fashion. She wrote for the
Globe and Mail and included interesting highlights of what workings behind
the fashion world. Her first national byline appeared in the Globe and Mail
November 14, 1962. In 1981 she was named Woman of the Year by Fashion
Canada. Her work allowed her to jet off to world fashion capitals but her
pay was not large for the results provided. A succinct reporter she came to
the point directly. She did not write after her retirement. Source:
Fashion writer had a healthy perspective…by Susan Ferrier Mackay, Globe
and Mail January 10 2012. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
|
Sarah Ann 'Annie' Gray
Caswell
3650 |
née Wilson.
Born February 27, 1873, Durham, Ontario. Died May 15, 1954,
Toronto, Ontario.
Annie's parents died of tuberculosis in 1899 when she was just 16 years old.
At that time she left school to take care of her younger family members. Annie herself would marry, first to Jack Butcher (1870-1915) and secondly to
Nathanial Franklin Caswell (1858?-1945). Her second husband was a publisher
and a printer. While she herself did not have any children, she however, had
a deep interest in child welfare and served on the boards of the Toronto Day
Nursery and the East Eng Day Nursery. She was also a Director with the youth
organization Canadian Girls in Training (C G I T). She earned her way in
life as a journalist writing for The Globe, the News, the Mail and Empire,
and The Telegram, all newspapers in Toronto. By 1930 she had published a
novel, Susann of Sandy Point. She was a member of the Canadian Women's Press
Club and served a time as president of the Toronto Branch.
Source: ECWW online (accessed 2022) |
Gretta Chambers |
née
Taylor. Born January 15, 1927, Montreal, Quebec. Died September 9, 2017,
Montreal, Quebec. Gretta learned at an early age from her family about
family commitment and community service. While still in her midteens she
studied Political Science at McGill University, Montreal graduating in 1947.
In January 1951 she married Edgar Chambers and the couple had five children.
She became a political wife in 1958 when her husband was elected to the
Quebec provincial legislature. She worked at this time as a translator and
researcher and later worked as a front-line journalist, public-affairs
analyst and a broadcast commentator. From 1964 thought 1978 she had a weekly
radio programme called the Province in Print. From 1977-1980 she hosted a
weekly CTV program called The Editors. It was in 1977 that she began
her 25 years as a columnist for The Gazette newspaper. A convince
federalist she was a major spokesperson for the English community at a time
when separation was a hot topic. She served on numerous boards and
committees including in 1978 to 1988 sitting on the McGill Board of
Governors. In 1991 she was invested as the 1st
woman chancellor of McGill University. She was an Officer of the
Order National du Quebec in 1993 and in 2000 she was promoted to a Companion
of the Order of Canada. (2022) |
Ethel Matilda Chapman |
Born February 25, 1888, Campbellville, Ontario. Died August 28, 1976, Toronto,
Ontario. In 1905 Ethel attended the Milton Model School after completing her
high school. In 1909/10 she attended Normal School in Hamilton, Ontario to
earn her teacher’s certificate. In 1912 she earned her Domestic Sciences
Teacher’s Certificate from Macdonald Institute, Guelph, Ontario. After
graduating she worked at the Women’s Institute Branch of the Ontario
Department of Agriculture from 1927- 1952. She was a contributor and editor
for the publication Food for the Family and editor of the ‘Home’
section of Farmer’s Magazine. In 1952 she became editor of Home
and Country magazine for the Ontario Women’s Institute. She also wrote
novels, short stories and essays. In 1974 she received the Ontario
Agriculture Centennial Medal. In 1980 she was inducted into the Ontario
Agricultural Hall of Fame. Source: Obituary, Toronto Star, August 30, 1976 Page A 6
|
Leigh Anne Chapple |
Born 1955.
Died December 10, 2013, Ottawa, Ontario. Leigh Anne began working in news
broadcasting in Pembroke, Ontario. The town is situated in the Ottawa valley
and she was soon noticed by one of the workers at CTV in Ottawa. She began
working as secretary to Max Keeping, a well known broadcaster at CJOH
television, with the understanding that when a job in broadcasting opened up
she would apply. She worked on the television program Regional Contact,
providing stories from the Ottawa Valley that would be on interest to her
Ottawa viewers. Then she became anchor for the late night news on CTV
Ottawa. She worked at this job with true dedication for three decades
becoming a familiar and welcome face to her viewers. She was also known for
being the master of ceremonies, host or a guest auctioneer at local
charities throughout the Valley. She helped the next generation come into
the profession when she taught at Algonquin College. She was honest and
forthright about such things as her struggle with weight but his showed that
broadcasters need not all be slim like a career model. Leigh Anne retired
after 36 years on Ottawa television On May 4, 2012. Source: Obituary Ottawa Citizen, December 14,
2013. Suggestion submitted by Leah Monroe, Timmins,
Ontario |
J. Margot Brown
Chester |
Born
January 15, 1916, Birmingham, England. Died October 30,
2010, Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a child Margot immigrated to Manitoba with her family, and settled in
the Sturgeon Creek area of St. James. On October 24, 1936, she married
Thomas P. Chester
(1904-2002).
After the birth of their three children, she began writing professionally in
the mid-1950s. Her career in journalism began as the Charleswood
correspondent for the St. James Leader. By 1965, she was Editor of
the St. James Assiniboia News. She was later Editor-In-Chief of
several weekly community newspapers, including Metro One, The
Lance, The Herald, The Times and Thompson Times. As
a volunteer she was also a founding member of the Charleswood Historical
Society and the Charleswood Sketch Club. She was a member of the St. James
Chamber of Commerce, The St. James Business and Professional Women’s
Association, and other local and political organizations. In 1997, she wrote
a book on the history of St. Mary’s Anglican Church in celebration of its
75th anniversary.
Sources:
Obituary,
Winnipeg Free Press,
6 November 2010 : Memorable Manitobans Online (accessed November
2012) |
Adrienne Choquette 4090 |
Born 1915, Shawinigan, Quebec. Died 1973, Quebec City,
Quebec. From 1924 through to 1931 Adrienne studied with the Ursuline
Sisters in Trois Riviéres, Quebec. Her first job was working as a
civil servant with the provincial government but soon found herself
writing for various newspapers and periodicals. She write for Le Bien
Public, Le Nouvelliste, le Samdi, La Revue populaire, Le Jour, Amérique
française, Le Devoir and Les Cahiers de l'Acadeemie canadienne-française.
She also worked on C H L N Radio in Trois Riviéres from 1937 through 1948.
From 1948 thoght to 1970 she worked as t first as co-editor and then editor
of Terre de Foyer, with the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture. In 1939 she
published her first book, Confidences d'écriviains canadiens-français. Her
first novel appeared in 1948 was called La Coupe Vide. In 1954 she
earned the Prix David for her collection of stories, La Noir ne dort pas.
She would earn a second award, the Prix de grand jury in 1961 for her short
stories called Laure Clouet.(2022) |
Caroline
'Kate' Churchill
3900 |
née Nichols. Born December 3, 1833, Pickering,
Ontario. Died January 14,1926, Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.A. Kate was a
self-taught youth who loved reading. In 1857 she married a Mr.
Churchill and in 1857 the family moved to Minnesota, U.S.A. where she lived
an isolated pioneer life which included surviving Indian raids. She
taught in a local rural school. The long winter months allowed her to follow
her passion for reading. In 1862 she became a widow with a young daughter
and they moved west to California seeking a milder climate for better
health. By 1869 she had left her daughter with her sister to work as a
travel writer which took her to Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Indian Territory
and back to California. In 1874 she published Little Sheeves and
followed it up in 1883 with Over the Purple Hills or Sketches from Travel
in California. With her writings Kate pioneered freedoms for women and
she soon had thoughts of political action to gain female suffrage. She
became well known for her actions for promoting reforms for women in
her writings. She also was an early voice for promoting better treatment of
immigrants and minority groups including the Chinese and Native Americans.
Settling in Colorado she began publishing a newspaper called the Colorado
Antelope with the motto 'Come let us reason together'. An instant success
she continued with her publication which she renamed the Queen Bee in 1882
and increased it to a weekly publication. She editorialized experiences as a
woman traveler and woman journalist .She often challenged male editors and
their political stands in their papers. Her works did not get her admitted
to the male bastion of the Colorado Press Association. She constantly
questioned, and challenged and targeted men's actions including those in the
male dominated church. In The Queen Bee was less popular after women in
Colorado received the vote so she suspended publication in 1895. 1909
she penned her autobiography, Active Footsteps.
(2022) |
Marie Arzélie Éva Circé-Côté
Columbine, Mussette, Fantasio |
SEE - Social Activists |
Grace Cirocco |
She studied for her Bachelor of Arts at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
and earned her M.A. at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
She also took additional personal interest courses in California. She worked
as a Director of Communications in the Canadian Government. She worked as a
broadcast journalist for the CBC in Toronto and Calgary. A linguist, she
speaks English, Italian and French. She has traveled and loves international
cuisine. She is married and has two children. In 1988 she earned the Award
of Distinction in Broadcasting for her work with the Calgary winter Olympic
Games. In 2001 she published her book Take the step, the Bridge will be
there (Harper Collins). In 2003 she was the cover story for Women with
Vision magazine. She provides help and guidance through workshops and
retreats around the world. She is the founder and President of Grace Cirocco
Inc. training and coaching company. In 2004 she founded the Goddess Club, a
monthly workshop and therapy group in Oakville, Ontario.
Source: Grace Cirocco, Biography (accessed 2007); Interview with and inspiring woman by
Penny in Discovering She May 14, 2011. Online (accessed December
2011. Suggestion submitted by Joan Lowry. |
Adrienne Louise Clarkson |
SEE - Politicians and Civil Servants.
|
Rhea Clyman 3901 |
Born 1904, Poland. Died 1981. The young Rhea came to Canada
with her Jewish family and settled in Toronto. Two years after arriving she
was run over by a streetcar and as a result lost par of her leg. She left
school to work in a factory to help support her family after the death of
her father. She worked in New York as a researcher for the New York
Times and then took a position as a foreign correspondent for the
London Daily Express in England. In 1928, while in her mid 20's,
she traveled to the USSR to report on Soviet reforms. Her writings were
covered in several newspapers including the Canadian Toronto Telegram. She
saw labour camps in north Russia and saw staving Ukrainian peasants in
Kharkive. She became the first North American journalist to expose one of
the modern genocides. Rhea reported about this Holodomor, the great famine
of 1932-33 or terror-genocide, in the Ukraine, calling it murder by
starvation. She was arrested, as she traveled to Georgia in the USSR, for
reporting false news and was deported in 1932. The reports of this famine
were not recognized formally in Russia until the 1980's. Reporting on
Nazi Germany until 1938 Rhea left the country because of growing redress
against Jews. Her plane crashed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, but she
survived. From 1938-1941 she continued working for the London
Daily Press while living in Montreal. She relocated to New York, U.S.A.
where she retired. In 2018 her story was told in the documentary Hunger
for Truth: The Rhea Clyman Story. In 2019 she was represented in the
film Mr. Jones. Source:
Meet the Jewish Canadian Reporter Who Interviewed Nazi Leaders Nazi Leaders
and Blazed a Trail for Women Journalists by Omar Mosleh, Star
Edmonton November 23, 2019 online (accessed 2022) |
Bettie L. Cole |
Born 1912?, Marbeton, Quebec. Died, 1983, Ottawa, Ontario. By 1908 Bettie was a
working reporter with the Sherbrooke Record. She worked on the Women’s
Pages. By 1941 she had relocated to Ottawa and until 1952 she worked with
the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. Written on her grave stone is the sentence” 1st
girl journalist on men’s general staff of the Ottawa Citizen.” While working
as a journalist she lived with fellow journalist Rosa L. Shaw (1895-1981).
In 1952 she switched professions working as a landscaper in Orleans, just
outside of Ottawa, retaining in 1982.
Source: “Section B, Range 6, Graves 20A & 25” by Marci Surkes, “Stories from
the Grave”, Ottawa Citizen September 28, 2004.
|
Kathleen
'Kit' Blake
Coleman |
née Ferguson.
Born February 20, 1856, Castleblakeney, Galway, Ireland. Died May 16,
1915, Hamilton, Ontario. The young Kit was
educated at Loretto Abbey, Rothfarnham, Ireland and then at finishing school
in Belgium. She married Thomas Willis under her adopted name of
Kathleen Blake. After the death of her first husband, and their only
child,
Kit immigrated to Canada in 1884. She worked as a secretary and then married
her boss, Edward Watkins. The couple would live in Toronto and Winnipeg
raising two children. She turned to journalism to support
herself and her two children after the death of her second husband she
worked cleaning houses but then began to see her writings published in such
magazines as Saturday Night. Back in Toronto in
1890 she became the
first woman journalist to be in charge of her own section of a newspaper
with the Women's Kingdom in the Toronto Mail. Her full page column
not only discussed fashion but reported in her personal outspoken manner all
the top topics of the day. Soon her columns were syndicated to newspapers
across the country. In 1893 she covered the World's Fair in Chicago,
Illinois. In 1897 she reported on Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Boarding
a boat in Florida she landed in Cuba as the world’s first woman
accredited war
correspondent in 1898 reporting on the Spanish American War
for the Toronto Mail newspaper. She would work with
the Toronto Mail newspaper until she retired.
Back from Cuba she
married Dr. Theobald Coleman and settled in Copper Cliff, northern Ontario.
By 1901 the couple were living in Hamilton, Ontario. She was part of the
group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go to the St Louis
World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established the Canadian
Women's Press Club, with Kit as the first president. Kit also became known
for her published books of poetry.
*Her birth is often listed as 1864. (2022) |
Columbine |
SEE - Social Activists - Marie Arzélie Éva Circé-Côté |
Arlyene Corkum |
née Barrett. Born May 7, 1933, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died June 22, 2015, East
Berlin, Nova Scotia. Arlene worked at several professions such as being a teenage
fashion photographer, an antique dealer, and a cattle farmer but, it was her
passion for writing that would last the longest. In 1958 she married
Clarence H. Corkum and the couple had three sons. Her written works
appeared in publications from the Halifax Herald Ltd., Cameron Publications,
Transcontinental Media and Graphic Advocate Publications. She writings
appeared in the Queens County Advance and the Shelburne Coast Guard. In the
1970’s she began a weekly column for The Advance in Liverpool, Nova
Scotia. Arlyene also wrote short stories and poetry winning the first
Joseph How Festival Award in 1975. In 1976 she began working on television
producing and hosting shows viewed locally and internationally. She was the
founder and first president of the South Shore Literary Club, past
national Vice-president of the Media Club of Canada (formerly the Canadian
Women’s Press Club), a founding member of the Writers Federation of Nova
Scotia, the Nova Scotia’s Writer’s Council board member, and member of the
International Association of women. She also served as president of the
Queens County Historical Society, Milton Heritage Society, and served on the
Board of Directors and/or edited numerous newsletters within these
organizations. In 1991 she received a Nova Scotia Government Environment
Citation, and the Media Club of Canada National Press Award. In 1992 she
received the Governor Generals Medal for historical writing. She also
received the Canada 125 National Volunteer plaque in 1992. She won a
Children’s Aid Society First Certification of Appreciation for Foster Care.
Source: Canadian Women of Note, Canadian Womens Press Club, 1994.
|
Carole Corbeil 3902 |
Born 1952, Montreal, Quebec. Died October 6, 2000, Toronto,
Ontario. Carole's early education was in French until her divorced mother
remarried an Anglophone and she attended Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's
School. She also spent time in Wales on an International Baccalaureate
before studying at York University, Toronto. She married actor Layne Coleman
and the couple had one daughter. She worked as an arts reporter for The
Globe and Mail, Toronto in the 1980's. In 1992 she penned her first
novel, Voice-Over, which included passages in both English and
French. In 1993 she earned the Toronto Book Award. In the 1990's she
switched to writing for the Toronto Star and contributed to This
Magazine, Canadian Art, and Saturday Night magazine winning two
National Magazine Awards for her writings. In 1997, In the Wings, her
second novel was published. The novel was adapted for stage at the Theatre
Passe Muraille, Toronto, in 2002. (2022) |
Thelma Craig |
Born April 11, 1901, Leeds County, Ontario. Thelma earned her BA at Queens
University, Kingston, Ontario and then attended the Ontario College of
Education, Toronto. She be began a career in teaching having taught for 5
years in Western Ontario. She decided to be a journalist and worked as a
staff writer for the Mail & Empire newspaper, Toronto. She was one of the
top ten Ace reporters, and the only woman to cover the 1939 Royal visit to
Canada by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. During world War 11 she was
one of the members of the Canadian Women’s Press Club who would serve the
government.
Source: Canadian Women of Note, Canadian Women’s Press Club,
York University, 1994.
|
Lenore Talbot Crawford |
Born August
11, 1909 London, Ontario.
Died May 4, 1983. By 1933 she had earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of
Western Ontario in London. She became a member of the newsroom staff of the
London Free Press. From 1941 through 1974 she was a reporter. She was a
critic of music art and cultural events. She maintained a weekly column and
a digest of French Canadian editorial opinion that appeared in daily and
weekly French language newspapers in both Ontario and Quebec. She was in the
London Bureau of the Windsor Star newspaper and was the first woman reporter
in the Windsor Star newsroom. |
Sally Kathleen Creighton |
née Murphy. Born July 20, 1903, Ashcroft, British Columbia. Died September
13, 1982. She earned her BA at the University of British Columbia and in
1924 she received her MA from the University of Toronto. From 1924 through
1945 she lectured in English literature at both the University of British
Columbia and the University of Toronto. She served 9 years on the Senate at
the University of British Columbia. From 1945 through 1968 she was a full
time free lance script writer and broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (CBC) radio and television.
Source: Canadian Women of Note. Media Club of Canada. (Toronto: York
University, 1994) no. 184 page 202. |
Elizabeth 'Liz" Cruickshank
3712
'Liz Roly' |
Kierstead. Born August 25, 1895, New Brunswick. Died May 31,
1989, Regina Saskatchewan. Like many young ladies of her
generation, Liz graduated from Normal School (teachers'
College). She went west to teach in Regina, Saskatchewan.
She soon met and married Warburton Kerr Cruickshank
(1886-1958) and the couple raised two children. Through her
Westminster Church she became involved with the Local
Council of Women. She would serve as the local president in
the mid 1930's and as provincial Council of Women President
from 1939 through 1942. She also was active in Regina's
Community Chest operating the sewing room. During the Second
World War (1939-1945) she did extensive work as provincial
chairperson of the Women's Activities for the National War
Finance Committee. Her war time efforts were recognized in
1948 when she received the Order of the British Empire. As
an active member of the Saskatchewan Natural History Society
she proposed the creation of the Museum of Natural History.
She scripted writings for the Department of Education nature
broadcasts on C B C Radio. She also was a journalist writing
under the pen name of Liz Roley she had a column in the
Regina Leader-Post newspaper. She published, A Second
Look: Liz Roly's Nature Notes, in 1976. She was an
active member of the Regina Canadian Women's Press Club
receiving the Centennial Medal for Women in Journalism in
1967. Source: Encyclopedia of
Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022); Find a Grave Canada
(accessed 2022) |
|
Emily Ann McCausland-Cummings |
née Short. Born May 11, 1851, Port Hope, Canada West (now Ontario).
Died November 1, 1930 Toronto, Ontario. Emily attended Mrs. Lucy Simpson's
Seminary for Young Ladies in Montreal. September 27, 1871 she married
Willoughby Cummings of Toronto. The couple had one daughter. Emily began her working career as a journalist, working
from 1893 through 1903 on the editorial staff of the Toronto Globe.
In 1888 she attended the founding International Council of Women in
Washington D.C., U.S.A. In 1890 she represented the Mission Society of the
Church of England touring Indian reservations in British Columbia, Manitoba
and the Northwest Territories. She wrote of her visits to the reservations
in the Canadian Church Magazine and Mission News. In 1893 she was a
special correspondent for the Globe and the Manitoba Morning Free Press of
Winnipeg for the International Council of Women meeting in Chicago. That
same year she assisted Lady Aberdeen (1857-1939) in founding the National
Council of Women. From
1894 through 1910 she was the corresponding secretary of t the National
Council of Women. She also served on the Ladies Committee of the Toronto
Industrial Exhibition (now the Canadian National Exhibition C. N. E. )
when it began in 1901. April 1, 1910 the Canadian government appointed her
to a paying position in the Department of Trade and Commerce. In
1910 she received the honorary degree of D. C .L. from
King's College, Windsor and became the first woman to receive an honorary
degree from a Canadian University. She was a member of the
British Society of Women Journalists and after World War l she joined the
Canadian Women's Press Club. |
Irene Currie - Love |
As a school girl, she won a prize in a writing competition
run by the London Advertiser and she became a contributor to the newspaper.
In 1904 she was a member of a group of women journalists sponsored by the
Canadian Pacific Railroad to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It
was during the train trip that she participated in the founding of the
Canadian Women's Press Club. She would marry Elfred Archibald of Montreal
where she joined the staff of the Montreal Star, using Margaret Currie as
her byline. |
Stacy Dales - Schuman |
Born September 5, 1959, Brockville, Ontario.
Her love of sports was evident during her years
as a student at Thousand islands
Secondary School where she participated in basketball provincial
championships for Ontario. While at the University of Oklahoma in the USA
she was twice named “Big 12” basketball player of the year. She was the
highest Canadian ever drafted by the Woman's National Basketball Association
where she played for the Washington Mystics. She retired from the court in
2004. In 2002 she bean working for ESPN as a studio sports analyst and has
expanded her sports coverage since then. In 2004 USA Today named her Rookie
analyst of the year, and in 2004 she has been named “Best new face”. |
Sophia Sims Dalton |
Born c1785.
Died June 14, 1859. Married to Thomas Dalton in 1805, the family attempted to
establish themselves in business in Newfoundland before moving to Kingston,
Upper Canada in 1817. Again, the family attempted several businesses before
establishing a newspaper, The Patriot and Farmers Monitor , November 12, 1829. The family decided to move the newspaper to
York,
now Toronto, in 1832 as The Patriot. . It is said that Sophia would
edit her husband’s writings to avoid any legal issues. When Thomas died in
1840, Sophia took over the paper, becoming the first woman publisher of a
Toronto newspaper, a position she maintained until the paper was sold in
1848. Dalton Road in Toronto is named in honour of the family.
|
Josephine Dandurand |
née Marchand. Born
1862, St John, New Brunswick. Died 1925. Like most early women writers she would use a pen name to
sign her writing. She was known as Josette. A strong feminist she
championed the role of women in Quebec society. In 1892 she founded le
coin de feu which was the first women’s literary review in Canada. She
was also a strong orator and was often called the female Laurier. Prime
Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier. In 1898 she was the first Canadian woman
to be made an officer of the French Academy in France. In 1900 she was the
government appointed Canadian Commissioner to the famous Paris Exhibition.
In 1901 in her work, Two systems of art, she proposed government provide
funding for the arts. This was a full 50 years before the Canada Council of
the Arts. Source: D C B |
Marjorie Davidson 3856 |
Born 1915, Aylmer, Quebec. Died 1967. In 1921, when she was
just six, a great fire ravaged much of the city leaving a lasing imprint on
her young mind. Marjorie became a journalist and news photographer and
covered stories about many fires. It was also part of her duty to interview
and photograph numerous political figures and dignitaries. Her works were
published in Time, Mayfair, Life, in the U.S.A. and In Canada in
Saturday Night magazine and the Globe and Mail newspaper in
Toronto. Her archives are held by the Aylmer Heritage Association. Source:
Notable Women of the Gatineau Valley and the Outaouais. online
(accessed 2022) |
Mary Adelaide Dawson |
See - Mary Adelaide Dawson Snider |
Dorothy Dearborn |
née Ryder. Born July 22, 1927, Saint John, New
Brunswick. Died January 2, 2026, Hampton, New Brunswick. . As a youth she
had short stories published and as a Girl Guide she was one of the first in
the province to earn her Gold Cord. She had a love of animals growing up and
after high school she bought a horse. She married Fred Dearborn in 1948 and
the couple had three daughters and a son. She was an active volunteer
with the Canadian Mental Health Association. She began a career in public
relations and worked for the Amana Corporation and Simpson Sears. By the
early 1960's she had turned to working in TV and was host of the Check and
Double Check show where high school students and adults explored and debated
the issues of the day. The family settled in Hampton and became the
place for domestic animals to fine care and shelter. They even had a pet pig
and a three legged goat. She wrote editorials at this time for the King's
County Record. In 1963 she was the first woman in New Brunswick to run for a
seat in the Canadian Parliament. She began writing for the and was appointed
city editor as the first woman to hold this position in Canada. She
also wroted for magazines and published more than a dozen best-selling
books on New Brunswick. She was a founding member and President of the
South West New Brunswick Chapter of the Periodical Professional Writers
Association of Canada (P W A C). Source: Obituary online
(accessed 2023) |
Louyse de Bienville |
SEE - Marie Louise Brodeur |
Charlotte
'Lotta' Dempsey |
Born January 12, 1905, Edmonton, Alberta. Died December 19, 1988,
Markham, Ontario. Lotta followed her father’s advice and took
up teaching as a respectable profession. It lasted eight weeks! Her teaching
career was spent in a one
room school in Four Corners Alberta! Her first marriage to Sid Richardson
lasted six months in 1923. Not succeeding at the acceptable, Lotta
followed her desires and landed a job on a newspaper. With no male reporters
available the editor of the Edmonton Journal sent her off to
collect a story and interview Charlotte Whitton (1896-1975), the newly appointed
Director of the Canadian Welfare Council. Seeing that the new reporter was
very nervous Charlotte Whitton proceeded to provide the questions and the answers for
the interview. Lotta was now on her way to a remarkable career. She moved to the
Edmonton Bulletin and from there to Toronto in 1935 where she landed
a job with Chatelaine Magazine. Her writings were written with
“Gusto’ under several pseudonyms including a more acceptable feature writing
name of Jack Armstrong. In December 1936 she married Architect Richard
Fisher and by 1938 she was a working mother with a new son. In the 40’s she
worked for the War Time Prices Board and in the C B C Newsroom. In 1944 she
was back at Chatelaine. Missing the daily bustle of newspapers she
was soon working for the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper.
Moving in 1953, she began a
long career as columnist and editor at the Toronto Star. She was known
for her large hats, big purses, and smoking cigarettes in a long holder. Her
hardy laughter no doubt helped her survive the discriminating world of male
journalism. She won the Canadian Women’s Press Club Member’s Award in 1948,
1967 and 1976. In 1975 she was named to the News Hall of Fame. She was also
a founder of the Voice of Women for Peace in 1960. Her auto biography No
Life For a Lady was published in 1976. She retired from the Star in 1981.
Source: Driving Miss Dempsey by Ryan Jennings the Ryerson Review of
Journalism. Spring, 1999. Additional reading: Lotta Dempsey: The Lady
Was a
Star by Carolyn Davis Fisher (Toronto, Belsten Publishers, 1995) |
Grace
Elizabeth
Denison
|
née Sandys.
Born 1854(?) Chatham, Ontario. Died February 1, 1914, Toronto, Ontario. As a
young girl she attended Hellmuth College in London, Ontario. She is
considered Canada’s 1st female travel writer. In 1890 she
published A Happy Holiday, a picture storybook, in 1890. She worked
as a journalist and society editor for Saturday Night Magazine for 23 years
using the pen name ‘Lady Gay’. It is said that she made an unhappy marriage.
In 1904 she was the oldest member of a group of 16 journalists who traveled
to the St, Louis World’s Fair on behalf of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. On
the train trip returning to Canada the women formed the Canadian Women's
Press Club, however Grace Elizabeth Dennison did not become a member of the
club. She also published The Canadian Family Cook Book a volume of tried,
tested and proven recipes which ran in several editions from 1912
through 1939’s.
Source: Linda Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that
inspired the Canadian Women’s Press Club, 2012. |
Flora Macdonald Denison |
née Merrill. Born February 20(?) 1867 North Hastings County, Canada West (now Ontario). Died
May 23, 1921, Toronto, Ontario. In order to support her love and desire for
writing she ran a successful dressmaking business in Toronto. She married a travelling salesman and the couple had one son. The marriage was however
short lived and only strengthened Flora’s belief in divorce and free love.
As a young woman working as a costumer for the Robert Simpson company in Toronto
she witnessed firsthand the horrible conditions of the city’s sweat shops,
and vowed to do what she could to change the lives of the women who worked
in them. In 1903 she was introduced to the suffragist movement by Dr.
Elizabeth Stowe, the first woman to practice medicine in Canada. In 1906,
Flora attended the Copenhagen Conference as a delegate of the Dominion
Women’s Enfranchisement Association, and in 1911- 1914 she was the president
of the Canadian Suffragist Association. She worked tirelessly with others to
organize “monster rallies” and send dozens of petitions to members of the
legislature to improve the plight of women and get them the vote. She
resigned her position due to her support for the
more militant English suffragettes. Her strong life views were expressed in
her regular column in the Toronto Sunday World, 1909-1913. During WWI
she was a active and strong supporter of the Whitmanite movement which was a
social and spiritual movement based on the works of Walt Whitman. In 1916
she published the Whitmanite magazine entitled The Sunset of Bon
Echo from 1916-1920. Later she became a theosophist and in just
before her deaths she participated in the Theosophist Social Reconstruction
League.
Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia, on line (accessed March 2006) |
Clara Dennis
Journalist & photographer |
Born 1881, Truro, Nova Scotia. Died February 16,1958. As a child her
family moved to Halifax where her publisher father provided the town with
its two major newspapers. In 1912 he was appointed to the Senate of Canada.
Clara attended both Mount Allison University, Sackville and Dalhousie
University, Halifax. She finished her studies with courses in stenography
and typing and the Halifax Business College so that she might pursue
appropriate employment for a young woman of her era. After a trip overseas
she had a great desire to tour her home province. She took alone her camera
to provide images of her travels. She would produce three major books of
trips in Nova Scotia that would be published by Ryerson Press. Her home
province travel writings also appeared in newspapers and magazines across
the country informing all of Canada of the beauties of Nova Scotia. In 1939
she composed the provincial chapter on a souvenir booked produced for the
King and Queen’s Royal Tour . She had a keen eye for photography and a
charming writing style that left a descriptive legacy of her beloved home.
Her photographs showed people. Nature. Places and architecture including
lighthouses and even Cabbage houses on Tancook Island. Her promotion of the
province was her passion which was recognized with and honourary doctor of
Literature from Mount Allison University and a life membership in the Nova
Scotia Branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. Her legacy of thousand of
images is preserved in the Nova Scotia Archives.
Source: Clara Dennis: tours Nova
Scotia - Biographical Sketch. Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management. (accessed June
2008.) Suggestion
submitted by Cabot Yu, Ottawa, Ontario June 2008. |
Henriette Dessaulles-Jacques
'Fadette'
3425 |
Born February 6, 1860, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. Died November
17, 1946, Montreal, Quebec. When she was 14 Henriette began to keep a diary.
She kept up her diary until 1881 when she married Maurice St-Jacques (died
1897). The couple had seven children together. After the death of her
husband she began writing a column for La Patrie using the pen name Jean
Deshayes. She also wrote for Robertine Barry's (1863-1910) Le
Journal de Francoise, Le Courrier de Montmagny, La Revue de la femme,
La Revue moderne, Le Canada, and Le Nationaliste. She joined the
staff of the newspaper Le Devoir in 1910. Here she wrote a column
under the pseudonym 'Fadette' which she continued until the 1940's.
Beginning in 1914 compilations of her columns were published as Lettres
de Fadette. She also published several several books for children. In
1971 her childhood diaries were published as Fadette: Journal d'Henriette
Dessaulles 1874-1881. .In 1986 and English translation by Liedewy
Hawke was published as, Hope and Dreams: The Diary of Henriette
Dessaulles 1874-1881 winning the John Glassco Translation Prize and the
Canada Council Translation Prize. In 2007 a street was named in her honour
in Levis, Quebec. |
Rita Shelton
Deverell |
Born 1945, Huston, Texas, U.S.A. Rita relocated to Canada in 1967 to work as
producer of a children’s television programme. In 1974 was working as a
television journalist with the CBC program Take 30. Leaving the CBC in 1983
she taught journalism at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan and by 1988
she had become a founder of Vision TV, the world’s 1st and only
multi-faith television network. She worked as an executive and hosted
numerous interstitial segments where she was known for often sporting a
flower in her hair. She has been named to the Maclean’s Honor Roll of
Outstanding Canadians and is a Member of the Canadian Association of
Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She has an interest in Black Canadian drama and
is a board member of Obsidian Theatre Company, Toronto, Ontario. In 2005 she
was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. Having that same year
completed a term as director of News and Current Affairs for APTN, the
world’s 1st Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. It was in 2005
that she wrote and performed three, on-woman shows, Smoked Glass Ceiling,
McCarthy and the old Woman, and Big Ease. In 2006 she was
awarded the Festival Mentorship Award by Banff TV and in 2007 she became a
Quebecer Fellow for the Banff TV Festival. That same year she was appointed
the 1st CanWest Global Fellow which is a one-term commitment in residence at
the University of Western Ontario (now Western University), London, Ontario
in 2007. 2008/2009 she was the 1st storyteller-in-residence at the Centre
for Creative Communications of Centennial College. July 2009 to June 2012
she was the holder of the Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount Saint
Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She became a Member of the Order
of Canada in 2005 and is a member of the Canadian Association of
Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
(2019) |
Anna Dexter |
In 1928 Anna took to the airwaves on Station C W H H in Halifax,
Nova Scotia becoming the 1st Canadian woman radio broadcaster. She began her
career with a daily morning broadcast from her home. She spoke to her
listeners as if she were a guest in a persons home. She talked of
local news, items of general interest and ordinary conversation items
enjoyed by women. She became known as the "Queen of the airwaves'. During
World War l her broadcasts reached overseas on short wave radio. Her last
broadcast was given from her hospital bed and had to be cut short as she was
unable to breathe. (2020) |
Rosaleen Diana Leslie Dickson
|
née Leslie Born
July 2, 1921, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died January 23, 2018, Ottawa, Ontario. She obtained her BA at Guilford College, North
Carolina, U.S.A.1941. Her Masters studies would wait until her family has
grown. She received her Masters in Journalism at Carleton University 2003.
She Married David Rutherford Dickson (d 1992) in 1942.. As a young woman she and her husband, settled in Pontiac County, Quebec
raising a family of 6 children while publishing and editing the weekly
newspaper The Equity. Rosaleen served as the newspaper's editor for
more than 30 years. Retiring from the paper she helped her son
Ross in launching the Hill Times in Ottawa an she taught journalism
students at Ryerson University at 75 years of age. She continued to write
feature articles for the Hill Times, the newspaper of Parliament Hill
in Ottawa. She has co-authored, as well as written her own books that have
included: The Leslie-Dickson Family Histories,; HTML: the Basic
Book for People Who Would Rather Do It Than Read It and The
Mother-in-law book. In 2004 she wrote a play One Hundred years of
Daring, celebrating the founding of the Canadian Womens’ Press Club. She
took to the internet as a natural extension of communication and enjoys
writing for senior ‘Zines’ as well as developing and maintaining web sites
for such auspicious groups as the National Press Club of Canada. Her
personal web site displayed the pride she had of her 18 grandchildren and 21 great grand children.
Rosaleen was a life long member of the Media Club of Ottawa (formerly the
Canadian Women's Press Club.) |
Annie Le Porte Diggs
r4508 |
née Le Porte. Born February 22, 1853, London,
Canada West (now Ontario). Died September 7, 1916, Detroit, Michigan,
U.S.A. In 1855 she moved with her family to New Jersey, U.S.A. She was
educated at home with a governess prior to attending convent school and
public schools. In the early fall of 1873 she moved to Kansas, U.S.A. where
she married Alvin S. Diggs and the couple had two daughters and one son.
She began her working career as a journalist at the Kansas Liberal
with her husband. She soon became known for giving speeches and then
political speeches. 1892 was the first time women were able to lead a
delegation at an American national Political convention and Annie was
chairman of the delegation from Washington D.C. From 1898 to 1902 she
served as the Kansas State Librarian. She was an associate editor of
the The Advocate newspaper in Topeka, Kansas. She wrote the
books, Silk Raising in Kansas: Instruction Book, Catalogue of the Law
Books in the Kansa State Library, Little Brown Brothers and
the Story of Jerry Simpson, a popular politician. She served as
president of the Women's Alliance of the District of Columbia, the
Kansas Women's Free Silver League, the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association and
the Kansas Women's Press Association. In 1903 she was a delegate to the
International Cooperative Congress, Manchester, England and the following
year she attended the Peace Congress in Rouen, France. Her last book was
published in 1912, Bedrock: Education and Employment, the Foundation of the
Republic. (2024) |
Penelope Billings Reed Doob |
SEE - Academics & Librarians |
Denise Donlan |
Born February 22, 1956, Toronto, Ontario In 1985 she began working as a
host a producer for MuchMusic. By 1992 she was director of music programming
and by 1997 she was vice-president and general manager.
She
holds two Gemini Awards; Special Event Coverage for Election Night 93 and in
1992, as Producer for The NewMusic.
In 1998 she launched MuchMoreMusic. By 2000 she was president of Sony Music
Canada. In 2001 she won the
Peter Gzowski Literacy Award of Merit along with a Woman of Vision Award,
and Woman of the year from Canadian Women in Communications. On September
17, 2008 she became an executive director of CBC Radio’s English language
services. Leaving CBC in 2011 she hosed the TV program, The Zoomer,
co-hosting with Conrad Black on Vision television Network. In 2009 she was
listed as one of Canada’s Top 100 Powerful women and that same year, son the
Rosalie Trailblazer Award during Canadian Music Week. She is a member of the
Canadian Broadcasters Hall of Fame and a Member of the Order of Canada. |
Joan Marsha Donaldson
4604 |
Born April 23, 1946, Toronto, Ontario. Died
September 7, 2006, Victoria, British Columbia. Joan began working at C B C
in 1967 as an editor for National Radio News. She would also
work as Senior Editor of World at Six and Sunday Morning
Magazine as well as news special broadcasts. During the war in Viet Nam
she reported on sight and went on to produce Michael Maclear's
Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War documentary films. By 1971 she was in
Winnipeg working as producer of the evening news show 24 Hours. By
1973 she was back in Toronto as a producer on Newsmagazine. Switching
to C T V she worked as a field producer on W5. In 1975 she joined the
staff at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Metropolitan Toronto
University) teaching broadcasting and journalism. She also taught at the
Journalism Program for Native People at the University of Western Ontario
(now Western University). In the 1980's she married Arthur Galgoot but
sadly the marriage soon ended in divorce. In 1985 she was back with
the C B C as co-ordinatior of Regional Programing, TV News and Current
Affairs. By 1987 she was head of C B C Newsworld. In 1990 she was shit by a
bicyclist in Montreal, Quebec and suffered brain damage and was in a
coma for two years. Waking as a quadriplegic she was unable to continue her
broadcasting career. The Donaldson Scholarship is awarded annually to
aspiring journalists. (2024) |
Bronwyn Deborah Anne
Drainie |
Born June 8, 1945, Toronto, Ontario. After her master's
studies at the University of Toronto she began her career in broadcasting by
working at various radio stations in Ottawa and Toronto and then in England.
Returning to Canada in 1975 she began working for CBC. As host of CBC.
Radio "Sunday Morning" broadcast she won an ACTRA Award for Best Host
Interview on Radio in 1980. As a freelance writer she has written for the
Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Books in Canada, and London Magazine. In 1987
she won National Magazine Award for her work in Toronto Life. She published
a book in 1988 which was awarded the Ann Saddlemyer Book Award. |
Monika Deol |
Born India. She was brought up on a dairy farm in Beausejour,
Manitoba. She attended the University of Winnipeg before entering a career
in broadcasting. When she first started her career she wanted to break the
mould of the idea that most Indians were either extreme intellectuals,
researchers or taxi drivers! She was a very popular host on Much Music's
Electric Circus from 1988 through 1996. When she left the show some 35,000
people came to her farewell on her final episode. By 2002 she was working as
a Vancouver news anchor for CityTV. In July 2003 she stepped down from City
Pulse tonight to spend more time with her husband and children. |
Joan Marsha Donaldson
3895 |
Born April 23, 1946, Toronto, Ontario. Died September 7,
2006, Victoria, British Columbia. After graduating high school, Joan decided
to go to work in the newsrooms of C H U M - F M and C K E Y radio stations
in Toronto. Joan joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (C B C) in
1967 in Toronto to work as an editor with National Radio News. She reported
from Viet Nam during the war and later produced Michael Maclear's
Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War, which was a series of documentary
films. In 1971 she was a producer of the early evening news show, 24
Hours, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. By 1973 she was back in Toronto to produce
Newsmagazine and news specials. She worked for five years with C T
V's program W5 and in 1975 she joined the teaching staff at Ryerson
Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) and the staff at the
University of Western Ontario in London. In the decade of the 1980's she
married and divorced Arthur Gelgoot and returned to work with C B C as
Co-ordinatior of Regional Programming, TV News and Current Affairs.
She was appointed head of C B C Newsworld in 1987. In the fall of 1990 she
was hit by a bicyclist in Montreal and was in a coma for two years and
became a quadriplegia. In 1999 C B C Newsworld established a scholarship in
her name for aspiring journalists. She died from complications of her
injuries. Source: Obituary. C B C online (accessed
2022) |
Lyse Marie
Doucet |
Born December 24, 1958, Bathurst,
New Brunswick. Lyse attended Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario,
graduating in 1980. While at university she wrote for the university
newspaper. She went on in 1982 to earn her Master's in International
Relations from the University of Toronto. After graduating she volunteered
for four months to teach English in the Ivory Coast, Africa. In 1983 she
worked as a freelance journalist in West Africa for Canadian media and began
working for the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). By 1988 she was
reporting from Pakistan. From 1989to 1993 she was the BBC correspondent in
Islamabad also reporting from Afghanistan and Iran. 1994 found her at the
BBC office in Amman, Jordan. She served from Jerusalem and across the middle
East through to 1999. In 2003 she earned a Silver Sony Award for News
Broadcaster of the Year. In 2010 she earned a Peabody Award for her film
work in Afghanistan. That same year she earned the Sony Radio Academy Award
for Best News Journalist. 2007 saw named the International Television
Personality of the Year by the Association for International Broadcasting
and the News and Factual Award from the Women in Film and Television. In
2014 she made the documentary Children of Syria which was nominated
for a BAFTA Award in 2015. That same year she made the documentary Children
of the Gaza War. In 2014 she became an Officer in the Order of the British
Empire (OBE). She also received a
Bayeux-Calvados
Award for war correspondents. In
2017 she earned the Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting Award at the
International Media Awards. Starting in January 2018 she began
presenting Her Story Made History; a five-part series on the BBC Radio
featuring in-depth interviews with remarkable women with the theme showing
the relationship between women and democracy. Proud of her roots she attends
the Acadian World Congress which is held every five years. In 2018 she
became a Member of the Order of Canada. |
Christiane Duchesne |
Born August 12, 1949 Montreal, Quebec. She studies
industrial design at an architectural school but ended up with a completely
different career path. An author, translator and illustrator she has
translated more than 400 titles and published more than 60 original books,
seven of which she has illustrated herself! She also writes scripts for
plans and recorded a series of broadcasts on legends and music for Radio
Canada. To think that she does all of this with ease in both of Canada's
official languages!!! Her works have be awarded the Governor General's Award
(Victor, 1992) and in 1993 La 42e soeur de Bebert and 1995 La Bergerede
chevaux won the Mr. Christie's Book Award. |
Sara Jeanette Duncan
'Garth
Grafton' |
Born December 22, 1861, Brantford, Upper Canada (Ontario). Died July 22, 1922, Ashtead, England. Like many women of her era she trained as a teacher at the
Toronto Normal School graduating in 1882. Her 1st published
poems appeared in 1880 and an article was published a year later. In 1884
she published articles on the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial
Exposition in New Orleans. She published the articles under the pseudonym
(pen name) ‘Garth’ and the articles were picked up by American papers. In
1886 she took over the ‘Woman’s World’ section of the Globe. Using
her own name she also wrote a column for the Toronto literary periodical
Week on important intellectual issues of the day. She left Toronto in
November 1887 to work for the Montreal Star and by February 1888 she
was the papers parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa. She and fellow
journalist Lily Lewis mourned around the world sending stories of their
exploits to the Montreal Star. These stories Jeannette turned into a
novel in 1890, A social departure; how Orthodocia and I went around the
world by ourselves. The trip provided fodder tor two additional
publications. In 1890 she married Everard Charles Coates in Calcutta, India.
Her 1st novel appeared in 1894. A daughter of to-day was
the 1st book to appear under the name of Mrs. Everard Coates (Sara
Jeannette Duncan). After her marriage she continued producing a steady
number of articles and worked on the autobiographical On the other site
published in 1901. She would publish 22 books and she had more planned.
During World War she travelled between India and London , England working on
an original stage play which were sadly unsuccessful. In 1919 the couple
settled in England. She died of chronic lung problems exacerbated by
her smoking. |
Marie-Anne Duperreault
3717
'Perrette' |
née Boucher. Born September 25, 1885, St, Damien de Brandon,
Quebec. Died January 6, 1976, Vancouver, British Columbia. She taught school
for a time prior to marrying Joseph Duperreault in 1904. In 1907 the couple
settled on a homestead near Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan. Marie Anne was
mother to twelve children. Between 1910 and 1940, despite being a busy
mother and farm wife she found time to pen for the French language
newspaper, Le Patriote de L'Ouest. Using the nom de plume Perrette,
she wrote on all topics from family life, religion, politics, education,
and being part of the French speaking minority. She would hold the volunteer
position as editor of the Women's Page until the newspaper moved to
Manitoba. After the death of her husband in 1961 she relocated to Vancouver,
British Columbia.
Source: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed
2022) |
Julia Durham |
SEE - Julia Willmothe/Wilmotte Henshaw |
Jean Edmonds
|
SEE - Politicians and Public Servants |
Constance Fairbanks-Piers
3925 |
née Fairbanks. Born May 10, 1866, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Died January 17, 1939, Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a child she had poor health
and her formal education was spotty but was an avid reader. In 1887 she
became secretary to Charles Frederick Fraser (1850-1925), a blind editor of
the Halifax, Critic. Here she honed her writing skills and
would write numerous articles for the Critic, and the Caledonian.
She also wrote poems which were published in the Toronto Week, Canadian
Magazine, and other journals. She contributed papers to the Halifax Ladies'
Club and other literary societies. January 7, 1901 she married
Harry Piers (1870-1940) and the couple had one son. With her husband she
edited the pomes of Mary Jane Katzmann called, Frankincense and
Myrrh: Selections From the Pomes of the Late Mrs. William Lawson in
1893. Source: E C W W; Find a Grave Canada (accessed
2022) |
Fanfan |
SEE
- Authors - Victoria Grace Blackburn |
Fantasia |
SEE - Social Activists - Marie Arzélie
Éva Circé-Côté |
Faith Fenton |
SEE -
Alice Matilda Freeman |
Agnes
Mary
Fitzgibbon |
née Bernard Born 1862, Barrie, Canada West (now Ontario). Died July 17,
1933. After her marriage in 1882 she left for England with her husband but
returned in 1894. As a journalist she used the pen name Lally Bernard. She
also wrote the book "Canadian Doukabor Settlements (Toronto, 1899). |
Muriel Flexman |
née Adams. Born August 25, 1912. Died November 30, 2003. Muriel
was the first female journalist to work at the Canadian Press. She was
women's Editor at the Ottawa Citizen and President of the Canadian Women's
Press Club. Wife of Lt. Col. Kenneth Flexman, they had five children. |
Julie Forst 4548 |
Died October 3, 2002, Swift Current,
Saskatchewan. Julie worked in radio in Red Deer, Alberta and then in Dawson
Creek, British Columbia. Julie married Bill Forst and the couple had two
daughters. Julie and Bill founded C J F B television in Swift Current in
December 1957 and she became not only an owner but also general manager of
the station. Julie was an active member in her home community supporting
various charities and she served as a director of the Swift Current Chamber
of Commerce. She created the Kinsmen Telethon in Saskatchewan which became
called Telemiracle and has raised tens of millions of dollars to aid people
with disabilities. In May 2002 the Swift Current Telecasting Company was
transferred to the C B C. Source: CAB Hall of Fame online
(accessed 2024) |
Annie Harvie Ross Foster |
Born February 15, 1875, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Died June 18, 1974,
White Rock, British Columbia. In 1896 she earned her B.A. from the
University of New Brunswick. She went on to train as a nurse at the
Philadelphia Polyclinic Hospital receiving her diploma in 1901. She worked
as a nurse in Woodstock, New Brunswick where she served as the 1st
matron of Carlton County Hospital. Poor health forced her to leave her
nursing career and she moved first to Saskatchewan in 1905 and then in 1908
on to British Columbia to teach. In 1915 she married William Garland Foster,
editor of the Nelson Daily News. In 1916 she followed her husband to England
where she nursed with the British Red Cross. Widowed during the war she
returned to Canada eventually settling once again in Nelson British Columbia
in 1919. She became President of the Great War Veterans Association. In 1920
she was the only woman delegate to the association’s annual convention. In
1923 she began writing for the Vancouver Daily Province. It was at this time
that she also attempted unsuccessfully to have a career in politics. She
continued writing producing such books as High Days and Holidays in
Canada and the Makers of Canada. She also wrote a biography of poet
Pauline Johnson entitled the Mohawk Princess in 1931. That same year she
graduated from McGill University with a post graduate degree in Library
Science. In 1932 she submitted the Mohawk Princess to earn a Master’s Degree
from the University of New Brunsw3ick. In 1945 she married Patrick Hanley.
She was active in the Vancouver Women’s Canadian Club and the Women’s Civic
League. She became the 1st woman to serve on the University of
New Brunswick Alumni executive.
Source: ‘Annie Harvie Ross Foster.’ New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia.
Online (accessed May 2014) |
Lillian Foster 3806 |
Born July 23, 1893?,Owen Sound, Ontario. Died September 24,
1963, Toronto, Ontario. In 1916 Lillian began working for the Toronto
Telegram newspaper where she compiled lists of World War l casualties.
She soon was working for different sections of the newspaper such as urban
affairs and education. She would write biographies of business figures in
her series A Peep Behind the Curtain of Time. She became a columns with
Shopper about goods and where to find them. In the 1940's she came to
work in the fashion section and covered New York fashion shows for 15 years.
She also promoted Canadian fashion and served as a commentator at fashion
shows at the Canadian National Exhibition (C N E) at the end of summer. She
was a member of the Canadian Womens Press Club (C W P C) and served as
president of the Toronto Branch of the organization.
Source: Find a Grave Canada online (accessed 2022) |
Francoise |
SEE
- Marcelle Barthe
|
Augusta
Charlotte Fraser
3689 |
Born 1849? Canada West. Died May 31, 1896, Montreal, Quebec.
The Fraser family immigrated to Canada from Scotland and settled in
Canada East (now Quebec) where the father ministered to Indigenous
communities with the Presbyterian Church. Within a few years the family was
in Canada West (now Ontario) but soon returned to Montreal. Charlotte had a
career as a sub editor with the Montreal Star. She was known to have
used multiple pen name such as A. C F., C.A. Fraser as well as her full name
when contributing to publications such as the Canadian Magazine in Toronto
and the Journal of American Folklore in Champaign, Illinois, U.S.A. She was
a member of the American Folk-Lore Society in Montreal and had an interest
in Highland Scottish culture in Canada. In 1891 she penned the novel,
Atma: A Romance which was written with prose and poetry. She also
collected with a friend, Margaret Ridley Charlton, and published With
Printless: Foot: A Holiday Book of Fairy Tales in 1894 with the
Canada Department of Agriculture. It is considered the first volume of fairy
tales to appear in English Canada. Source: E C W W
(accessed 2022) |
Alice Matilda Freeman - Brown |
Born January 14, 1857, Bowmanville, Canada West (now
Ontario). Died January 10, 1936, Toronto, Ontario. After attending Bowmanville Union School her family moved to Barrie, Ontario. She spent her
youth between family in Barrie and Bowmanville for her studies. She went on
to the Toronto Normal School (Teacher's college) and taught school for
several years in the Toronto area. During her time as a teacher she began
writing for the Northern Advance newspaper in Barrie. She used only
her initials 'A. F.' at first but when she began writing a column she used
the pen name 'Stella' In 1887 she was wring under the name 'Faith Fenton'
for children's article in the Toronto Globe. It was about this time
she began writing the 'Woman's Empire' column for the Empire
newspaper. In 1889 she wrote of her travels across Canada for the Empire.
She had continued teaching to earn a living until 1894 . She syndicated her
column which appeared in the Union Advocate, the Ottawa Citizen, the Galt
Reporter, and the Toronto Evening News. In October 1885 she
became editor of the new Home Journal. Ousted as editor in 1897 she
took journey to the Klondike and the travels were published in the Globe.
In the Yukon she became Assistant Private Secretary to the Commissioner of
the territory where she met and married Dr. John Brown on January 1, 1900.
In 1904 the couple moved to Toronto. In Toronto Faith was a member of the
Canadian Women's Press Club and write sporadically.
(2020) |
Annette Saint-Amant
Frémont |
née
Marie Jeanne Annie Saint-Amant. Born July 1, 1892 L’Avenir,
Quebec. Died August 4, 1928, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was educated by the
sisters of L’Assomption and L’Ecole Norman (Teacher’s College) Laval
graduating with diplomas in both English and French. She was diagnosed with
tuberculosis and spent 2y years at a sanatorium in New York State, U.S.A.
During this time she occasionally sent articles to newspapers in Montreal.
IN 1914, Back in Canada she and her sister, Marie moved to Gravelbourg
Saskatchewan to teach. In 1918 the editor of the first French language
newspaper in the province, La Patriote de l”Ouest, sought Annette
out to become the editor of the women’s page. Annette moved to Prince Albert
Saskatchewan and became the 1st francophone woman journalist in
Saskatchewan. Her writings reached rural women throughout the province and
her works included poems, stories along with helpful hints. Soon she created
a second column, Le Coin des Enfants which encouraged children to write. On
December 26, 1918 she married Donatien Frémont ( -1967) the assistant
editor of the paper. The couple had one child. In 1923 the family moved to
St. Boniface, Manitoba where Donatien was Chief Editor for La Liberté
Annette soon became editor for the women’s section. After her death,
Donatien produced a collection of her writings, L’ Art d’être heureuse.
(Montréal 1929.)
Sources:
Herstory, the Canadian Women’s Calendar 2006 Coteau Books, 2005;
Dictionary of Canadian Biography online (accessed April 2013.) |
Mira Friedlander 4586
Theatre Critic |
Born 1944, Jaffna, Israel. Died May 10, 2000, Toronto, Ontario. Mira moved
with her family in 1948 settling in Toronto. Mira graduated from York
University, Toronto, in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. Mira
married Wayne Fairhead. As a features writer and critic she wrote for The
Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, the National Post, The Financial Post,
Seniors, Performing Arts in Canada, Canadian Theatre Review, Scene Changes,
American Variety, and Playbill On Line. She received twice the
Nathan Cohen Award from the Canadian Theatre Critics Association and also
served as president of the Association in 1998. She also reported on C B C
Radio. She was filmed for the documentary Wars: Dispatches From the
Front. The Mira Friedland Scholarship Foundation assists theatre writers.
Source: York University Library, online (accessed 2024);
Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia, online (accessed 2024) |
Liza Frulla
|
Born March 30, 1949, Montreal. Quebec. She worked as a marketer for Labatt's
Breweries meeting with government officials and eventually joined the Quebec
Liberal Party. In the mid 1970’s she worked for public affairs of the
organizing committee for the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
She became the 1st
woman reporter accredited to cover professional sport in electronic media.
She was elected a
Liberal
Member of the
National Assembly of
Quebec from 1989 to 1998. In 1998 she hosed her own Radio-Canada
show. She became a
Liberal
Member of the Canadian
Parliament from 2002 to 2006, serving as a member of the Cabinet
of Prime Minister
Paul Martin
as Minister of Canadian Heritage, Minister of Human Resources Development
and Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
On
December 12, 2003 she was made a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for
Canada. In 2016 she was inducted as an Officer of the National Order of
Quebec and the following year she was awarded the Order of Canada.
(2017) |
Barbara Frum |
née
Roseberg. Born September 8, 1937, Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.A. Died March
26, 1992, Toronto, Ontario. Barbara grew up in Niagara Falls, Ontario
Where her father had his business. She married Murray Frum, a dentist and
later a real estate developer in 1957 while she was studying at University.
She graduated with a degree in history from the University of Toronto in
1959. She and Murray would have two children and an adopted son during the
1960’s. She worked as a freelance journalist with her writings being
accepted by the Toronto Star, the Toronto Globe and Mail and
Saturday Night Magazine. In 1971 she began work as an on air
journalist with the CBC radio. For ten years, ending in 1981, she provided
interviews with international personalities on the popular radio
newsmagazine show As It Happens. In 1975 she was presented with the
National Press Club of Canada Award for outstanding contribution to Canadian
Journalism.. On December 17, 1979 she was inducted into the Order of Canada.
From 1982 until her death she hosted CBC television’s The Journal, a
nightly current-affairs program. She was the inspiration for Canadian Sesame
Street character, Barbara Plumb and she ever portrayed herself as the
reporter Barbara Frum on the Canadian cartoon shoe The Raccoons. You know
that you have made it when you have become a puppet, a cartoon character and
when you have been parodies on the Canadian TV show CODCO! She died for m
chronic leukemia which although it had been diagnosed in the 1970’s had been
kept a secret even from her children until the final years. After her death
there were numerous tributes. In 1993 the Academy of Canadian Cinema and
Television awarded her the John Drainie Award for Distinguished
Contributions to Broadcasting and that same year the new CBC building, in
downtown Toronto, dedicated the Barbara Frum Atrium. The Toronto Public
Libraries dedicated a branch library which contains a commemorative
sculpture of Barbara. There is also an annual Barbara Frum Lecture
co-sponsored by the Department of History, University of Toronto and the
CBC. In 1996, her daughter Linda Frum, published Barbara Frum: a
Daughter’s Memoir. In 1999 Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp in
her honour in the Canada Millennium series.
|
Linda Frum |
Born January
13, 1963, Toronto, Ontario. Linda earned her Bachelor of Arts from the McGill
University, Montreal, in 1984. Linda is married to Howard Sokolowski and the
couple has three children. She was a contributing editor for Maclean’s
magazine and a columnist with the National Post newspaper. She has written
two books: A guide to Canadian Universities published in 1987 and
updated edition in 1990 and Barbara From: a daughter’s memoir, published
in 1996.. Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Linda to the Senate of
Canada in 2009. Linda is an active member of the Toronto community. She is
vice chair of the board of Upper Canada College. She is also the honourary
chair of Zareinu—a school for physically and developmentally challenged
children. She is an honorary patron of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of
Canada. In 2006, she was chair of the Women’s Division of the United Jewish
Appeal. She is a past board member of the Canada Israel Committee, the Art
Gallery of Ontario Foundation, and the Ontario Arts Council. She is a past
recipient of the Golda Meir Leadership Award from the State of Israel
bonds. And in 2010, Yeshiva University awarded her a Doctor of Humane
Letters, honoris causa. She earned a Gemini Award in 1996 for Best
Social-Political Documentary Program. Source:
Senator Linda Frum Online (accessed February 2012) |
Beatrice Sifton Nasmyth - Furniss |
Born
1884, Stratford, Ontario. Died October 23, 1977, Vancouver, British
Columbia. She studied at the University of Toronto to become a concert
pianist. She switched careers and became a journalist working in 1910 in
Woodstock, Ontario and later in Vancouver, British Columbia and Calgary,
Alberta. While on the west coast she joined the Canadian Women’s Press Club
and served as Vancouver’s chapter president in 1913. In 1914 she was a
journalist campaigning across the Canadian prairies for women’s right to
vote. Shortly after she was running a publicity bureau for the Alberta
Government in London, England. She and her cousin Nell Sifton would run the
successful 1917 campaign for nursing sister, Roberta MacAdams’ run for the
Alberta Legislature. During World War 1 she was one of only 4 women
journalist allowed to tour behind the Canadian lines on the war front in
France. She reported back to Canadians stories of life and bravery at the
war front. In November 1918 she was present when the armitist was signed.
The only woman journalist accredited to cover the World War 1 1919 peace
treaty negotiations in Paris, France. She married and returned with her
husband to Montreal where he worked for the Montreal Gazette
newspaper. She went on to author several short stories and raise her
children. In 1952 the couple retired to Vancouver.
Source: Herstory 2006: The Canadian Women’s Calendar. Coteau Books,
2005) |
Anne Garber
3908 |
Born 1947. Died July 17, 2011, Vancouver, British Columbia.
As a journalist she was best known for her work as a restaurant critic, food
and travel writer. She relocated from Toronto to Vancouver and in the 1980's
she produced a talk show on C J O R hosted by Dave Barrett who would become
Premier and later she worked as press secretary for Gordon Campbell when he
was Mayor of Vancouver. She married John T. D. Keyes. The couple had two
children. Working together the couple wrote travelogs, articles and
books. Her career covered both print and online media. She wrote for such
magazines as Grocer Today, Canadian Living, Chatelaine, Porthole
and NUVO. She also had a weekly column for TV Week Magazine
called 'The Bargain Hunter'. She was also published in the Vancouver Sun and
the Toronto Globe and Mail newspapers. Online she contributed to
travellady.com. She was the managing director of the
food-travel-entertainment web pages, evalu8.org. With her husband she wrote
Victoria's Best Bargains and Exploring Ethnic Vancouver along
with a new edition of Cheap Eats Vancouver. In all she was author of
some 14 books. Source: Obituary, The Georgia Straight
July 21, 2011 online (accessed 2022) |
Dorothy
Bruce
Garbutt |
née Coldeugh.
Born December 16, 1897 , Winnipeg,
Manitoba. Died February 18,
1988. She studied German at the University of
Manitoba but it was journalism that would become her chosen career. She
wrote fiction and non fiction works for newspapers, national and
international magazines and the CBC Radio. She hosted a CBC Series Houses I
have Known. She was honoured with numerous Manitoba historical and literary
awards. In World War ll she was an official escort for British evacuee
children who were sent to safer homes in Canada.
(2019) |
Mae Garnett |
Born 1875 (?), London, Ontario. Died May 26, 1984, West Vancouver, British
Columbia. Mae moved to Winnipeg in early 1900s as a CPR public relations
officer for the Canadian Pacific Railway. She was one of the first female
general news reporters in Western Canada, writing for the Albertan,
Edmonton Bulletin and Vancouver News-Herald, before joining
the Vancouver Sun in 1930. In 1962, retired as senior court reporter
covering the British Columbia Supreme Court and county courts. She was also
one of the first women to obtain a mortgage from Central Mortgage and
Housing. She was a champion of women's rights at least two generations
before the rise of the women's movement.
Source: Vancouver Hall of Fame on line (accessed December 2012) |
Amelia
Beers
Garvin |
née Warnock Born 1878, Galt, (now Cambridge) Ontario. Died September 7, 1956. Although she was married in 1912 she continued
her career as a journalist. She used the name de plume Katherine Hale. Prior
to her marriage she had been literary editor for the Toronto Mail and Empire
newspaper. After her marriage she would concentrate on her poetry and for
the next four decades would pen some 6 volumes of poetry. She also was the
biographer for Isabella Valency Crawford and published the work in Toronto
in 1923. Her second book of prose would be Legends of the St Lawrence
published in 1926. |
Françoise Gaudet - Smet
3416 |
née Gaudet. Born October 26, 1902, Sainte-Eulalie,
Quebec. Died September 4, 1986. After high school she attended Ecole Normale
de Nicolet and then worked in her father's business. In 1926 she began to
work as a journalist. By 1934 she was secretary and editor of the
women's pages of Le Canada. That same year she married Paul Smet (died
1950). In 1938 she founded the journal, Paysana, which was published
through to 1949. She did the radio programs Notre pain quotidien and V'la
le bon vent on C K A C and De fils en aiguille and Le
Reveil rural on Radio-Canada. She co-hosted the television program
Voix de Femmes and then Sans détour on C H L T, Sherbrooke.
During her career she contributed articles to La Press, Le Devoir,
Montréal-matin, Le Nouvelliste, and La Tribune. In 1946 she
founded the Centre Social Claire-Vallée and worked as director until the
early 1960's. In 1965 she married a second time to Samuel Brisson. In 1974
she founded a cultural and education centre, the Gaudet Bourg Centre
and was inducted into the Order of Canada. She also taught continuing
education at the Université de Québec, Trois Riviéres. She served as
president of the Cercle de femmes journalistes 1969-1971 and from 1981-1984
she was president of the Fondation de L'Hôpital de Christ-Roi. In 1985 she
became a Chevalier in the L'Ordre National de Québec. Some of her papers are
maintained at the Centre d'Archives Régionales, Séminaire de Nicolet.
Source: Hommage à 56 femmes d'exception qui ont changé le
Québec. Suggested by Larry McNally, Gatineau, Quebec.
|
Antoinette Géin - Lajoie |
Born 1871.
Died May 1945. She chose the career of journalism. In 1904 she was one of
the 16 women who traveled to the St Louis World’s Fair on behalf of the
Canadian Pacific Railway. While at the Fair she reported for the Quebec City
daily, L’Evénement. It was during the train trip back to Canada that
the women formed the Canadian Women’s Press Club. In 1905/06 she traveled to
Switzerland with a friend Jeanne Andi to teach domestic sciences. Back in
Montreal in 1907 the two women opened L’Ecole ménangère. In 1910 she was
teaching at L’Académie Marchand in Montreal. In 1926 she was the director of
L’Ecole ménangère. In 1936, along with the help of her niece Marie she
expanded the school at L ‘institute Notre Dame du Bon-Conseil. She took her
retirement from teaching in 1942.
Source: Linda Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that inspired the Canadian
Women’s Press Club, 2012. |
Emma Gendron
'Manon'
|
Born 1895, Saint-Barnabé,
Quebec. Died 1952 or 1953, Montreal, Quebec. While she was studying in
Montreal she started writing for newspapers and magazines. In 1918 she was
writing a column on women's fashion using the pen-name 'Manon'. She was also
writing serial romances at this time. She wrote as a film critic for Pa
Panorama in 1919. By 1922 she was a screenwriter. Sadly many scripts and
films of this era in Canada have been lost so it is only known that two of
her scripts became films from information located in newspaper accounts. She
returned to journalism and writing film chronicles under her pen name
'Manon' all through the 1920's. She married Robert Green and continued to
publish serial novels and branched out to children's comics. She became
involved in politics running as a candidate in the provincial elections and
promoted votes for Quebec women. Source: Women Film
Pioneers (2019) |
Nicole Germain |
SEE - Entertainers - Actors - TV and Movies |
Lizette Gervais
3422 |
Born June 3, 1932, Montreal, Quebec. Died June 8, 1986,
Montreal, Quebec. Lizette studied literature and language at Marianopolis
College, an English language college in Westmount, Quebec. She married the
lawyer and future judge, Robert Sauvé. The couple adopted three
international children. After living in Washington , U.S.A. the couple
settled to live in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1957 she joined C K C H radio
station, Hull (now Gatineau), Quebec. By 1960 the couple relocated back to
Montreal where Lizette worked at the Société Radio-Canada. She hosted
various radio and television shows. In 1967 she became one of the first
women to present Téléjournal du midi. She left C B C , being tired of
hosting women's programs and worked with Télé-Métropole, a private network.
She would return to C B C in 1977 to host the radio show La Vied daily.
Leaving the media work place in 1980 she worked as president of the Office
des sevices de garde afance du Québec, then coordinator of the Adoption
Secretariat where she dealt with international adoptions. In 1984 she
learned she had uterine cancer. In 1987 the Lizette-Gervais Prize was found
awarded to young graduates in Communication for the quality of their radio
or television production. In 1988 Montréal created Lizette-Gervais street in
the Rivière-des-Prairies district and the Cap-Rouge district of Quebec also
created a street in her honour. Source: Prix Lizette
Gervais. online (accessed 2021); Hommage A 56 Femmes D'exception qui ont
Changé le Québec. published by Editions Spécial 7 jours.
(accessed 2021). Suggestion from Larry McNally,
Gatineau, Quebec. |
Alexandrine 'Alex' Gibb |
Born 1891,
Toronto, Ontario. Died December 15, 1958, Toronto, Ontario. She attended the
private girls college, Havergal College, in Toronto. The College was known
for its advance acceptance of girl’s sports in the early 20th
century. She graduated in 1913. During World War l (1914-1918) she worked as a secretary
in Toronto. Although she was engaged to marry she never married after her
fiancé was killed during the War. Her participation in sports continued
after her college days. She enjoyed tennis, soft ball gold and track and
field. She was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs Ladies Basketball team
which won Eastern Canadian championships from 1922-1924. She was becoming an
articulated spokesperson for women in sports. During the 1920’s and 1930’s
she was Canada’s most pre-eminent woman journalist. Working with the Toronto
Daily Star she maintained a daily column entitled “No man’s land sport” for
over 30 years. She began her journalist career in the 1920’s and it was May
1928 that she began her famous column. In 1919 she helped found the Ladies
Ontario Basketball Association and served as president in 1925. In 1922 she
founded the Canadian Ladies Athletic Club and served as the 1st
president. In September 1925 the Women’s Amateur Athletic Union was created
and Alex helped draft the Constitution. By December 7, 1926 the Women’s
Amateur Athletic Foundation of Canada was founded with her encouragement.
She served as President from 1928-1931. In 1928 she was the manager of the
Canadian Women’s Olympic Team that would become known as the “Matchless
Six”, bringing home gold, silver and Bronze medals in Track and field. In
1934 she had become assistant sport editor at the Toronto Daily Star and she was
appointed to be the only woman on the Ontario Athletic Commission. In 1935
she toured Russia and sent home to the Toronto Star articles on life in that
country. Some of her stories were front page copy. She gave up her column
with the star in 1940 when the country was at war. By 1951 she was
accompanying Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinborough in their cross
country Tour. In 1954 she was in the thick of the sports story of the year
when she encouraged Marilyn Bell’s swim across Lake Ontario.
Sources: “Queen of the Ice Lanes: the Preston Rivulettes and Women’s Hockey
in Canada 1931-1940” by Carly Adams in Sport History Review no. 39
pages 1-29 2008; 100 more Canadian Heroines by Merna Forster Dundurn
Press, 2011. |
Doris Giller |
Born
January 22, 1931, Montreal, Quebec. Died April 25, 1993. Doris began her
working career as a secretary with a supermarket chain. She joined the staff
of the Montreal Star newspaper in 1963 and
thought persistence and hard work she became night editor, lifestyles editor
and entertainment editor. She never accepted the idea of the "Glass
ceiling" that kept many women in low positions. In 1972 she worked as
the paper's correspondent in Israel. When the Montreal Star folded in
1979 she worked at the Montreal Gazette as a book review editor. She rose to be a reporter
and editor at three of Canada's major daily newspapers including the
Toronto Star after she and her husband had settled in Toronto in 1985. . Her husband Jack
Rabinovitch (1930-2017), a fellow reporter, speech writer, and businessman, established the Giller Prize,
Canada's premier literary prize for literary fiction in 1994. |
Marie-Rose 'Miemose' Girard
3779 |
née Tousignant. Born May 24, 1906,
Saint-Stanislas-de-Champlain, Quebec. Died 1995, Genier, Ontario. Miemose
was preparing to become a teacher when her father moved his family of 15
children, in August of 1922, to the small northern Ontario settlement of
Genier near Cochrane in Northern Ontario. the Province of Ontario Regulation
17 prohibited teaching in French in Ontario Schools. Marie-Rose did not
speak English. In December 1926 she married Leo Girard (1899-1971) and the
couple had a family of nine children. After 22 years Leo left the marriage.
Miemose worked as a school secretary in the 1950's. She would pen her life
story Miemose Raconte... published by the University of Ottawa in
1988. She was also known locally as a poet. Source:
Elles du Nord...online (accessed 2022)
|
Anne Marie Gleason
'Madeleine' |
Born October 5, 1875, Rimouski, Quebec. Died Montreal October 21,
1943. As a teenager she was writing for local newspapers using a multitude
of pen names for her works. After the death of her father, she and her
sister relocated to Ottawa to live with a brother. Here she continued
writing with Le Temps. It was here that she first used the pen name
“Madeleine” when she was writing the women’s column. She had taken over the
job begun by “Francoise” / Robertine Barry. It was during this time that
she became a founding member and treasurer of the Canadian Women’s Press
Club. That same year, 1904 she married Dr. Wilfred A. Huguenin. The couple
would have one daughter. During World War l Anne-Marie gave generously of
her efforts with the French Red Cross society and l’aide a la France. For
her efforts she received the French Medal of Recognition in 1920 and King
Albert of Belgium presented her with a gold medal. In the 1920’s both her
husband and her daughter died and Anne-Marie immersed herself in her work.
After 19 years she left La Patrie and started editing La Revue
Moderne. In 1928 she founded La Vie Canadienne which merged with
La Revue Moderne, the ancestor of Chatelaine. After publishing
several books she decided to compile a history of Canadian women and in 1938
she published Portraits de femmes. A second edition of the popular
work was written for younger readers. Feminism was reflected her many works
She called upon women to better themselves with education, and becoming
interested and involved in Politics. She encouraged women to support their
men and raise boys respectful of equality of the genders.
Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia online Accessed July 2011: Anne-Marie
Gleason (Madeleine) by Amelia Baxter in Biographical Sketches of nine
members of the Canadian Women’s Press Club . Ottawa, Media Club of
Ottawa, 2011. page 11-12 |
Alison Ruth
Gordon 3862 |
Born January 19, 1943, New York City, U.S.A. Died
February 12, 2015, Toronto, Ontario. Alison attended Queen's
University, Kingston, Ontario, but left her studies before completing her
degree. She pursued a career as a journalist and really wanted to cover
professional sports. She worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Company (C B
C) in radio and television and was a producer for the program As It Happens.
In 1979 working at the Toronto Star newspaper she was assigned to
cover the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team. She was one of Canada's first
prominent women sportswriters becoming the first
woman doing sports coverage of the American League baseball.
Women sports writers were a rarity at the time and her membership card in
the Baseball Writers' Association of America originally identified her as
'Mr. Alison Gordon. She was one of the first
women allowed into a Major League Baseball locker room which
was controversial at the time. She would go on to become a murder mystery
writer with the character Kate Henry who was a sports reporter and amateur
detective. From 1988 through 1997 she published five novels. She also wrote
Foul Ball! Five Years in the American League published in 1984.
(2022) |
Sondra Gotlieb |
née
Kaufman. Born December 30, 1936, Winnipeg, Manitoba. An author,
who has one the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 1978 for her
novel Confessions. she has also authored
two Canadian cookbooks. She
writes articles for such notable publications as Saturday Night,
Maclean’s, and the New York Times. She is married to
Allan Gotlieb, a former Canadian Ambassador to the United States.
The couple have three children. Her book, Rollercoaster
recounts they years in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. during the Reagan
era. Invitations to their Washington parties were highly coveted.
She writes a regular weekly column for the National Post. |
Gabrielle Gourdeau |
SEE - Authors |
Alison Ruth
Gordon |
Born January 19, 1943, New York, U.S.A. Died
February 12, 2015, Toronto, Ontario. Alison attended schools in New
York, U.S.A., Tokyo, Japan, Cairo, Egypt and Rome, Italy as her father
worked in various countries for the United Nations. She came to Canada
in 1960 to Attend Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. As a journalist she
worked for CBC Radio in various roles including being producer of the
show As It Happens and being a news anchor in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1978
she earned a National Magazine Award for humour. She also worked beginning
in 1979 for the Toronto
Star newspaper. Alison was the 1st woman beat writer covering the
Toronto Blue Jays baseball team surviving the waves she caused being a woman
in the Jays locker room to win a National Newspaper Award citation for
sports writing in 1979. She wrote a book about the Toronto Blue Jays but
found her love to be writing mysteries centered on a sportswriter as a main
character. She wrote five mystery novels. If you like mysteries, visit your own public library and look up
these books. Sources: Obituary,
Toronto Star February 14, 2015. |
Bernelda
Winona Sakinasikwe Gordon
Aboriginal Journalist and Social
Activist |
SEE - Social Activists
|
Margaret
'Miggsy' Graham -Horton
Note card is available in the "Store"
|
Born 1879, Upper Musquodoboit,
Nova Scotia. Died May 1924, Montreal Quebec. . At 15 she attended the Normal School at Truro,
Nova Scotia. She taught for a few years and was ahead of her times in
advocating voting privileges for women teachers in the provincial teacher’s
association. In 1898 she became interested in mission work in the West
Indies. She was unable to complete her five year term at the mission after a riding
accident. She would spend some time in New York City with her journalist
brother and by 1897 she was employed as a journalist herself at the Halifax
Herald. She would move to Ottawa as the paper’s correspondent by 1904. She
was part of the group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go
to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established
the Canadian Women's Press Club. After the 1904 World’s Fair in July 1905
she married Albert Horton. The couple settled in Ottawa and had a daughter.
In Ottawa sh where she worked at the Home for the
Blind and the Protestant’s Infant Home. She had little to do with the
Canadian Womens Press club after the birth of her daughter but in 1923 she
was flown to Vancouver to attend the triennial CWPC conference as the
'Mother of the CWPC'. In 1975 Her daughter made a donation to the Ottawa
branch of the CWPC (now Media Club of Ottawa) and the following year the 1st
annual Margaret Graham Award was presented to an Ottawa area journalist for
the best feature article. The award was later changed to be presented the a
top journalist student in Ottawa. |
Dorothy Howarth - Richardson
4506 |
Born 1912, Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Died 2009,
Pickering, Ontario. Dorothy began her working career as a teacher in a
one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan. She soon left for Regina and found
work with the Leader Post newspaper in the women's department. During the
Second World War (1939-1945) she decided to head east in Canada to further
her career in journalism She attempted to work for The Star
newspaper, The Globe and Mail newspaper, Maclean's magazine
and even Chatelaine magazine but was turned down. She ended up
working at the Toronto Telegram newspaper for $25.00 a week. In 1949
Dorothy won an award from the Canadian Women's Press Club. She also won the
first ever National Newspaper Award for feature writing for covering
Newfoundland's coming into Confederation when she went to the people to
report on their feelings about Confederation. This boosted her to become an
globetrotting reporter. In Japan, at a hair salon, she struck up a
conversation with a women who turned out to be the Empress of Japan and she
had a great story! At home in Canada she did her thing finding the
wife of the leader of the famous Boyd gang and telling the story from the
wife's point of view. In the late 1950's she joined the staff of The
Vancouver Sun for a couple of years but when her stories were heavily edited
she she was back at the Telegram in Toronto. In 1967 she married Dr. Harold
'Hal' Richardson and retired to be mom to her step children. Besides
journalism was changed with the coming of television. Source:
The First Lady of Razzmatazz. by Chantel Guetin, June 1, 2000, Review of
Journalism online (accessed 2024) |
Germaine Gévremont
3912 |
née Grignon. Born April 16, 1893, Saint-Jérôme,
Quebec. Died August 21, 1968, Montreal, Quebec. Germaine was educated in
Toronto, Ontario and worked as a journalist for various women's magazines.
She married Hyacinthe 'Hy' Gévremont and in 1916 the couple settled in
Sorel, Quebec. After staying home for several years she returned to writing
with the Montreal Gazette and as editor for Le Courrier de Sorel.
During the depression of the 1930's the couple lived in Montreal where she
worked as a court stenographer. In 1938 she published her first book, a
collection of short stories, En pleine terre. By the end of world War
ll in 1945 she had published her firs novel Le Survenant which earned
the Prix David from the provincial government and the Prix Sully-Olivier de
Serres from the Acadeemie française. She this first novel with a
sequel, Marie-Didance, two years later. An English translation of
these two novels was published in one volume with the title, Outlander,
in 1950 and earned a Governor General's Award. She would continue to write a
publish short stories whiled returning to journalism writing radio and
television scripts of her books. She had completed two chapters of her
memoirs at the time of her death. In 1976 Canada Post Corporation
issued an eight cent commemorative stamp to commemorate
Le Survenant.
(2022) |
Elsa Gidloe |
|
Edythe
Elizabeth Goodridge |
See - Social Activists |
Elaine Grand
3904 |
née Hill. Born June 8, 1926, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Died April 30, 2001, England. Elaine graduated from high school in 1942 and
then she
trained as a fashion illustrator. She soon married Solomon Grand but
by 1953 she was a widow. She began working with the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (C B C) and became an interviewer on the program
Tabloid from 1953 for three years becoming one of the best know TV
personalities in the country. In 1956 she relocated to England working for
ITV. She did however, continue to work for Canadian TV on the program
Chrysler Festival in 1957. In 1960 she married a Canadian playwright,
Reuben Ship. Elaine began producing documentaries such as Unmarried
Mothers in 1963. For the next two decades she returned to being an
interviewer for the Thames Television daytime show Afternoon Plus.
Her intelligent and serious interviews became popular with British fans as
she had discussions with politicians, writers and other well known persons
of the era.
Source: Memorable Manitobans (accessed
2022) |
Garth
Grafton |
SEE
- Sara Jeanette Duncan |
Jane Gray |
Born 1896. Died 1984. She began her broadcasting career in 1924 in
London Ontario, at the Radio station for the Free Press. She came first in a
list of 90 applicants for a cooking program on C F R B in Toronto. It is said
of here that she was a born show-person and it did not bother her to wear an
Indian costume to do a live commercial. In the 1940’s she was a main stay on
C H M L in Hamilton, Ontario with the daily Jane Gray Show. Later she would
host the show on C H C H TV in Hamilton. Considered one of the
first Canadian
women with a career in radio broadcasting, a true pioneer who is listed in
the Canadian Awards in Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
Name submitted by Jeannine
Ouellette, Ottawa |
Miriam Green - Ellis |
Born 1879,
Rickville, New York, U.S.A. Died November 19,1964, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Miriam's parents were
Canadian and the family moved shortly after her birth to Athens, Ontario.
She attended Bishop Strachan School in Toronto and graduated from the
Toronto Conservatory of Music. By 1904 the family lived in Edmonton,
Alberta, and she moved on to work as a reporter in 1912 with the Prince
Albert Post. She married George Edward Ellis, who would become
Inspectors of Schools for Alberta. When George became principal of Prince
Albert Collegiate in Saskatchewan, Miriam became coach for the women’s
hockey team. In 1913 she joined the Canadian Women’s Press Club and remained
a lifelong member. By 1919 she was back in Edmonton and President of the
Edmonton Branch of the CWPC. From 1919 through 1927 she was a reporter for
the Edmonton Bulletin. She dubbed herself “Toad” after the character
in the Wind in the Willows. She drove across the province for stories
and often changed her own sparkplugs in her old second hand car. In 1927 her
writing caught the eye of the Family Herald and Weekly Star where she
worked until 1952. She retired in 1952 but still wrote freelance articles.
While in Edmonton in 1922 she had financed her own journey to Aklavik, North
West Territories, on the edge of the Arctic Ocean and travelled with her
typewriter and camera writing some 40 stories about her travels. Her photos
showed the life of peoples of northern Alberta. Her papers and her
photographs were bequeathed to the University of Alberta providing a lasting
archival legacy.
Sources to
read: Miriam Green Ellis: Champion of the West. Edmonton; University
of Alberta Press, 2013. |
Helen Gregory MacGill |
SEE - Lawyers & Judges |
G'Wan |
SEE -
Julia Willmothe/Wilmotte Henshaw |
Alexandra 'Sandra' Gwyn
3913 |
née Fraser. Born May 17,
1935, St. John's , Newfoundland. Died May 26, 2000, Toronto, Ontario. Sandra took her early
education at Sacred Heart Convent, Halifax and then went on to graduated
with her Bachelor of Arts degree from Dalhousie University, Halifax. After
graduating she travelled to London, England where she worked at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts. In 1958 she married Richard Gwyn (1934-2020)
in Ottawa, Ontario. In the 1970's she worked as the Ottawa Editor for
Saturday Night magazine. In 1984 she published the book, The Private
Capital: Ambition and Love in the Age of Macdonald and Laurier,
which won the Governor General's Award. In 1989 she authored the biography,
Mary Pratt, which she followed in 1992 with, Tapestry of War:
A Private View of Canadians in the Great War. In 2000 she was inducted into
the Order of Canada for her 'elegant and insightful writing'*. Her husband
established the Winterset Award in her memory to honour writers from
Newfoundland and Labrador. * Citation for the Order
of Canada. (2022) |
Florence MacLeod
Harper |
Born 1889? Woodstock, Ontario?
In 1914 Florence was reporting from the eastern front of World War l Frank Leslie's Weekly Newspaper, out of New York City, U.S.A. While reporting
back to New York she suffered from trench fever and trench foot. In 1916 she
left Vancouver, British Columbia, sailing to Shanghai, China, then taking the Trans Siberia Railroad to Petrograd (now St Petersburg) Russia. She was
following a hunch for a story. What she saw was the violence of the early
days of the Russian Revolution in February 1917. Florence also served as a
volunteer nurse at an American field hospital in Russia. She witnessed and
reported on the street violence in Petrograd and the Bolshevik
uprisings in Moscow. Hungry and sick of violence she left Russia in August
1917 just a few months prior to the Bolshevik coup. She reported on Russian
happenings from Finland for awhile. From her experiences during World War l
and the Russian Revolution she would publish three books with photographer
Donald Thomson: Bloodstained Russia, From Tsar to Kaiser;
the Betrayal of Russia and in 1918 a more detailed account in Runaway
Russia. Her life after this is sparsely documented. What is known is
that she traveled once
again to China spent time in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. and Montreal,
Quebec. In the 1940's she was in New York City. Sadly little else is known about
this journalistic trailblazer. |
Ellen Harris |
Born 1904, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died June 15, 1967. From the 1920’s she had an
active interest in children’s theatre. In1930 she moved to Vancouver. From
1944 through 1952 she was a prominent radio broadcaster with Morning Visit
on the CBC. In the 1950’s she became involved with the CBC school
broadcasts. Active in the Vancouver Ballet Society she served at one point
as President. She was part of the building committee of the University of
British Columbia’s International House and was Public Relations Officer for
the B C A A and Health Centre for Children. She was an active member of the
Vancouver Zonta Club and also a member of the International Zonta Club.
Source: The History
of Metropolitan Vancouver – Hall of Fame
(accessed June 2009) |
Lucy Christie
Harris |
née Irwin. Born November 21. 1907,
Newark, New Jersey U.S.A. Died 2002. This author soon found her true talent
in writing children's' books. Often her stories are told in a Native
setting, teaching the need and respect for balance of nature.
She has been awarded the Canadian Association of Children's Librarians
book of the year award for "Raven's Cry" in 1966
and "Mouse Woman and the Vanished Princesses"
in 1976. The "Trouble with Princesses" in
1980 won the Canada Council's Children's Literature Prize. In
2002 she was awarded the Mr. Christie's Book Award. There is even
a Canadian juvenile literature book award named after her called the
Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Book Prize. She is a Member
of the Order of Canada. |
Susie Frances Harrison |
née Riley. Born 1859, Toronto, Ontario. Died May 8,1935. As an
journalist and author she frequently used the pen name Seranus. She
published several novels but is perhaps best remembered for her poetry. She
was a master of the difficult poetic form known as villanelle. She published
in her lifetime some 6 books of poetry. She also published the Canadian
Birthday Book (Toronto, 1887). |
Kate Simpson Hayes |
Born 1856, Dalhousie, New Brunswick. Died 1945. Like many young women of
her generation she attended Normal School (Teachers college) in Fredericton
and taught at various schools throughout the Maritimes until she married C.
Bowman Simpson in 1882. Married women could not work as teachers. The couple
had two children. Kate left her husband and moved to the prairies in 1885
living first in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan before settling in Regina. Here
she opened a millinery shop and became organist at the Catholic Church.
Within a month of her arrival in the city she founded the Literary and
Musical Society and began to write plays and prose using the pseudonym of
“Mary Markwell”. While in Regina she had a torrid affair with one Nicholas
Flood Davin. He hired her to write for the Regina Leader as its first
female reporter and he put her name forward for the position for legislative
librarian, a post she maintained for 8 years. Kate was separated but still
married and refused to marry Davin even with the birth of their two Children
in 1889 and 1892. The Children were placed in living conditions outside
their home. Davin married another and attempted to locate his two children
to live with him. Kate moved to Winnipeg in 1899 where she was the editor of
the women’s page of the Manitoba Free Press. She was part of the
group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored by the Canadian
Pacific Railway to go to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904. During the trip
they established the Canadian Women's Press Club. She would be elected in
1906 as the second president of the C W P C. In 1907 she was sent overseas
as a publicity writer for the CPR and served as an immigration commissioner.
She would publish several books one of which Prairie Pot Pourri is
considered the first book written and published in the Northwest
Territories. * Some resources list her first name as Catherine or Kathleen.
Sources: Canadian Who’s Who 1910 : City of Regina. Heritage. Online
(accessed January 2011) |
Annie Linda Hayr - Jack |
née Hayr.
Born 1 1839, Northamptonshire, England. Died February 15,1912, Chateauguay,
Quebec. Linda immigrated to the U.S.A. in 1852 and was educated at the Troy
Female Seminary, Troy, New York, U.S.A. Often her school compositions were
published in the Troy Daily Times. By 16 she was a 1st assistant
in the free schools in Troy. She became a teacher in Chateauguay, Lower
Canada, a few miles shout of Montreal, where she met her husband Robert Jack
(d1900). The couple were married on June 13, 1860 and they had a family of
12 children, 11 of whom lived to adulthood. From 1877 to 1890 she was a
regular contributor to the Reports of the Montreal Horticultural
Society and Fruit Growers Association of the Province of Quebec. An avid
horticulturalist she honed her knowledge from experience but also by
corresponding with others in the field. She often had more acceptance for
her horticultural writing from the U.S.A. than from her own home. She was
also keenly invested in education and in 1882-83 she became a member of the
Montreal Ladies’ Educational Association and shortly after the Montreal
Women’s Club. She wrote articles on social topics for the Montreal
Witness using the pen-name Loyal Janet. She was also a regular
contributor to the Waverly Magazine in Boston and published numerous
articles for children. From April 30 1898 to 1903 she wrote a weekly
column in the Montreal Daily Witness called Garden Talks. She
contributed as well to the Canadian Horticultural Magazine and the Canadian
Horticulturist. In 1902 she published a collection of short stories followed
in 1903 with The Canadian Garden which influenced a whole era
of gardening. In 1904 she published Rhyme-thoughts for a Canadian Year, a
small book of poems. Source:
D C B Vol 14. Online (accessed 2002). |
Helen Anne
Henderson |
SEE - Social Activists |
Julia Willmothe/Wilmotte Henshaw |
née Henderson. Born august 8, 1868, Durham, England. Died November 19,
1937, Vancouver, British Columbia. Julia was privately educated at home and
spent some time traveling in France and Germany to round out her
home schooling. She learned to love the outdoor life from her nature loving
Father. She began writing as a youth with articles published in the Girl's
Own Paper, London, England. In 1884 she immigrated to Montreal, Quebec with
her sister's family. June 15, 1887 she married Charles Grant Henshaw (died
1927). The couple had one daughter. In Canada Julia had articles published
in the Canadian Magazine and the Montreal Daily Star. By 1890 the family had
relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia. here she combined her love of
nature with her photography. She was a founding Member of the Vancouver
Women's Musical Club, the Georgian Club, and the Alpine Club where she was
an honourary secretary from 1910 to 1920. She joined the Women's Canadian
Club and the Independent Order of the Daughter's of the Empire (I O D E)
where she became nation vice-president in 1916. Through her writings she
joined the Canadian Society of Authors becoming provincial vice-president
in 1924. She used the pen name Julia Durham for her serious articles as a
book reviewer and theatre critic for the newspaper The Province. From 1900
through 1910 she was editor of the Sunday Page of the Vancouver Daily News-Advertiser.
For her women's social work she used the pen name G'Wan. In 1912 with the
new Vancouver Sun newspaper she edited the book page. Her 1st novel,
Hypnotized? or the Experiment of Sir Hugh Galbraith: a Romance was written
under the name Julia Durham and appeared in 1898. She was British Columbia's
1st female novelist. Her following novels appeared under her married name.
She also published several guides on plants. Mountain Wild Flowers of Canada
was published in 1906 and was also published in the U.S.A. During World War
l she was honourary Captain in the Red Cross Society. She visited the war front and lectured across Canada and would go on to drive ambulance in France
and act as a director of the Red Cross. For her war efforts she received the
Croix de Guerre. After the war she was a delegate at the International
Alpine Congress in Monaco in 1920 giving presentations on the Canadian
Rockies. It was here that she received the Order of Saint Charles. In the
1920 she also served as Director of the Canadian National Parks Association.
Henshaw Creek on Vancouver Island is named in her honour.
Source: D C B (2020) |
Sophia Margaretta Hensley
3916 |
née Almon. Born
May 31, 1866, Bridgetown, Nova Scotia Died February 10, 1946, Windsor,
Nova Scotia. Sophia was educated in England and Paris, France. This
author and lecturer wrote of her interest in women’s issues and social
tolerance. She was published in such publications as the Dominion
Illustrated Monthly, The Current, The King's College Record, The
Dalhousie Record, and The Week. She published her first book of
poems in 1889. That same year she married a lawyer, Hubert Arthur
Hensley, and the couple relocated to New York City, U.S.A. They would raise
three children. Sophia's second work of poems, A Woman's Love Letters was
published in 1895. She would write several other collections of poetry, a
novelette, and, with her husband, she wrote a musical pla, In 1913 she
published Love and the Woman of Tomorrow which was a feminist essay. She wrote periodical articles and 10 books under her own name
but also under the pen name of Gordon Hart, J. Try-Davies, and Almon
Hensley. She served as secretary of the New York State Assembly of Mothers,
was a founder and vice-president of the New York Mother's Club, and
founding president of the Society for the Study of Life. She was also a
member of the New York Press Club. In 1937 she moved to Jersey but was
forced to leave when the Germans occupied the Channel Islands off England.
(2022). |
Mary Eliza Herbert
3888
'Marion', 'M. E. H.',
'M', H' |
Born 1829, Halifax Nova, Scotia. Died July 15,1872, Halifax, Nova
Scotia. As a young girl she followed her older half sister, Sarah
Herbert, who was a writer. Mary was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist
Church's Benevolent Society and the Temperance Society. Mary published and
managed the Mayflower or Ladies Acadian Newspaper in 1851through 1852
becoming the first woman newspaper publisher in Nova Scotia. Many of her
articles in the newspaper were signed as 'Marion,", 'M. E. H.' or simply 'M'
or 'H'. A decade after her sister's death in 1846, Mary published The
Aeolian Harp, a collection of poetry by the two sisters. In 1865 she
published Flowers by the Wayside which focused on women's struggles.
She also self published four novels with some of her shorter works published
in Halifax newspapers of the day. Source: D C B. (2022) |
Sarah Herbert 3889 |
Born October 1824, Ireland. Died December 22, 1846, Halifax,
Nova Scotia. In 1826 the young Herbert family immigrated to Canada, with the
mother dieing as the result of a ship wreck on the voyage. The father
married a second time and Sarah became a sister to Mary Eliza Herbert
(1829-1872). Sara enjoyed writing and her works not only inspired her
younger sister but were published in local newspapers and the
British North American Wesleyan Magazine. Sarah went on to become
the editor and proprietor of the Olive Branch which had been one of
the businesses to publish her writings. In the 1840's Sarah also ran a local
school and taught Sunday School at her Methodist Church. She served as
secretary of the Halifax Female Temperance Society. Her publication
collapsed in 1845 when she was ill and she died within the year. In 1857 her
sister Mary Eliza Herbert published a book containing poems written by Sarah
and herself. Source: D C B (2022) |
Maude
Petit
Hill - Beaton
'Videre' |
née Pettit.
Born January 12, 1877, Simcoe, Ontario*. Died April 25, 1959, Newport Beach,
California, U.S.A. Maude graduated
from the University of Toronto (U of T) and had written her first novel by
the time she was 19. In 1913 she married Simpson Hill (1848-1932) and the
couple had two children. She called herself
‘Videre’ for a series of
articles which studied working conditions of Toronto women published in the
Toronto Star newspaper She was a member of the Canadian Women’s Press Club (C W P C).
When her husband died she travelled extensively with her two daughters and
then wrote a book about her adventures. In 1936 she married Norman Hill
Beaton (1886-1962) and the couple settled in California, U.S.A. where she
produced a second novel. Her shorter works where published in such
magazines as the Canadian Countryman, Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Saturday Night,
and the Star Weekly. * Birth palce is also given as
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. Source:
Canada’s Early Women Writers, Simon Fraser University. |
Ella Cora Hind
|
Born September 18, 1861, Toronto, Ontario. Died October 6, 1942. Cora’s
mother died when she was very young and her father took the children to live
with their grandparents on a farm in Ontario where grandfather taught her
about farming. She was educated at home by her aunt until she was 11 and the
family built a school. She lived in Orillia with her Uncle George to
complete her high school. Moving west to Manitoba in the hopes of landing a
teaching position, Cora learned that she had failed the algebra portion of
her teaching exams. Not deterred she decided to become a journalist. The
Manitoba Free Press did not want an inexperienced woman writer so Cora
worked as a typist until 1893 when she opened her own business as a
stenographer becoming the 1st public typewriter in the province.
Cora joined the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Along with Dr.
Amelia Yeomans (1842-1913) she formed the Manitoba Equal Suffrage Club. Cora
also joined the Canadian Women’s Press Club that had been formed in 1904.
She never gave up writing and with her knowledge of farming she was soon a
regular reporter and became the commercial and agricultural editor for the
Manitoba Free Press. She would become renowned for her accurate
analysis of crop yields and livestock news and became the western
correspondent for several eastern newspapers. Still wanting votes for women
she formed the Political Equality League with Lillian Beynon Thomas
(1884-1961) and Nellie McClung (1873-1953) in 1912. Women earned the right
to vote in 1916. She became a regular columnist with the Winnipeg Free
Press and at
75 she travelled around the world to observe agricultural methods, writing
her observations in 1937 in the book, Seeing for Myself and My Travels
and Findings, 1939. After her death the United
Grain Growers created the Cora Hind Fellowship for research in
agriculture,
and the Free Press created the Cora Hind Scholarship in home
economics.
Sources: Gordon Goldsborough, Ella Cora Hind Memorable Manitobans
(accessed 2002); Carlotta Hacker, E. Cora Hind, 1979.
|
Lois Elsa Hole |
SEE - Politicians and Public Servants |
Annie Hollis |
SEE - Social Activists |
Simma Holt |
née Milner. Born March 27, 1922, Vegreville, Alberta. Died January 23, 2015,
Burnaby, British Columbia. As a youngster Simma was drawn to watching the happenings of a murder trial in
her home town. She declared later in life that this is when the love of the
big story and the call of writing for newspapers came to her.
Simma attended the University of Manitoba, 1941-1944.
On May 20, 1949 she married Leon Hold (d1985) a mathematics instructor. She
was a pioneer in journalism, entering the newsroom that was traditionally
the strong hold for males only. She would eventually gain women colleagues
to fend off the mean spiritedness and jibs of male reporters. Simma was a
member of the Canadian Womens Press Club (C W P C) where she served as
President of the Vancouver C W P C branch in 1953. She had a talent for front
page news. She started her career in Calgary but soon found herself working
as assistant city editor for the Vancouver Sun.
She was winner and runner-up ten times of the top award for news and
features by Canadian women writers.
She took up unjust causes and earned reprieve from the death penalty for
three
convicts. In 1958, she went to South America to investigate the activities of
Freedomite leader Stefan Sorokin. After further years spent in Freedomite
research, she began work on her first book, Terror in the Name of God,
published in 1964. In 1967 she published her second book, Sex and the
Teen Age Revolution. Her third book, The Devil's Butler in 1972, was
almost like a follow-up to her previous book. It focused on the drug explosion,
the hippy scene and the Satan's Angels motorcycle gang. In 1969, she
received the University of Manitoba Alumni Jubilee Award for distinguished
achievement in the twenty-five years since her graduation. She returned to
the University of Manitoba in the early 1970’s
became the 1st female managing editor of the student newspaper,
The Manitoban.
On July 8, 1974 she was
elected to the House of Commons, the first Jewish woman elected to
a seat in Ottawa where she worked with fellow Liberal Party maverick,
Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000). Even here she faced anti-Semitism and
anti-feminism. She was unsuccessful in her bid to return to Ottawa in 1979
and gladly returned to the Vancouver Sun. From 1981-1984 she served
as a member of the National Parole Board of Canada. She also wrote in 1982
The Other Mrs. Diefenbaker, which was the life story of the 1st
wife of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (1895-1979). In 1996 she was
inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada.
She also penned her auto biography: Memoires of a loose Cannon in
2008.
Sources: Bob Mickleburgh, No one messed with Simma Holt, Globe
and Mail, February 20, 2015; Brian Morton, Trail-blazing reporter was
afraid of no one. Ottawa Citizen February 7, 2015; information
by June Coxon, Ottawa,
Ontario |
Dorothy Howarth |
Born 1912,
Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Like many young women of her era, Dorothy studied and
became a teacher. She taught for 2 years on the Canadian Prairies before
moving to a more challenging career. She joined the Regina Leader Post
newspaper staff and worked her way up to a reporter for the women’s section
of the newspaper. During World War 11 she headed for Toronto to work for the
Toronto Telegram. In 1949 Dorothy wrote about Newfoundland’s entry into the
Canadian Confederation and she won the Canadian Women’s Press Club Award
which was a national newspaper award for feature writing. In the 1950
Dorothy moved west and tried reporting for the Vancouver Sun but she felt
she was closely controlled in the stories she covered and that her work was
‘savagely’ rewritten so she returned to the Toronto Telegram. In 1967 she
married Dr. Harold ‘Hal’ Richardson and raised 2 stepchildren. By this time
she felt that her style of journalism was no longer acceptable especially
with the modern effects of television.
Source: Chantal Guertin. ‘the 1st lady of razzmatazz: if
Toronto’s newspapers in the 50’s was a circus, Dorothy Howarth was in the
centre ring.’ In Ryerson Review of Journalism. June 2000. |
Agnes Helen Hughes |
née Lockhart. Born 1866, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died January
25, 1942, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. As a youth in Halifax Agnes began
writing verses that were published in the local newspaper. After her
education at Sacred Hear Convent and County Academy she moved with her
mother and sisters to Boston, Massacheutts, U.S.A. In 1893 she was working
as a bookkeeper. She soon made her reputation as a writer of poems and
songs. Her 1st published collection of poems paid tribute to Nova Scotia and
Queen Victoria. In 1903 in Vancouver she married William Frances Hughes and
settled in Seattle. The couple had one child. She became music and clubs
feature editor for the Seattle Mail and Herald newspaper where her
poems were published regularly. She also wrote for the Greater West
Magazine. Agnes wrote lyrics for songs and her friend Amy Beach wrote
muisic to accompany the words. By 1920 she was an well established poet and
she was the editor for Musical West and Northwest Musician and also editor
of the music department for Screenland. Source:
ECWW online (2020) |
Katherine
Angelina
Hughes |
Born November
12, 1876, Emerald Junction, Prince Edward Island. Died April 27, 1925, New
York City, New York, U.S.A.. After completing her education in 1892 in her
home province taught aboriginal children in eastern and central Canada. she
joined the staff of the Montreal Star in 1903 until 1906. In 1904 she
was a member of a group of Canadian women journalists who were sponsored by
the Canadian Pacific Railway to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair.
It was during this trip that she participated in the founding of the
Canadian Women's Press Club (C W P C). By 1906 she had moved west and was
working with the Edmonton Bulletin where she covered the news from
the Alberta provincial legislature. That same year she published her 1st
book, a biography of her uncle. In 1908 she
was appointed as the 1st Provincial Archivist of Alberta.
While in Edmonton she was one of the founders of the Catholic Women’s
League. In 1914 she became Assistant to Agent General for Alberta in
London, England where she befriended the Irish sentiment for independence.
By 1920 she had written a draft biography on William Van Horne. The
biography was published but not under her name but that of editor Walter
Vaughn. It was about this time that she moved to Washington DC, U.S.A. in
order to lobby for Irish independence. She also traveled to Australia to
support the Irish cause before settling in New York City, New York, U.S.A.
As well as having been a journalist she authored two biographies.
Archbishop O’Brien: man and churchman (Ottawa, 1906) and Father
Lacombe: the Black Robe Voyageur (Toronto, 1911).
Source: Linda Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that inspired the Canadian
Women’s Press Club, 2012; .D C B |
Joan 'Joane' Elizabeth
Humphry
J.J. McColl |
Born December
24, 1936, Vancouver British Columbia. Died September 23, 2008, White Rock,
British Columbia. While in high school she enjoyed working on the school
newspaper and being in the Drama group. She choose the professional name of
J.J. McColl and began her radio career as Vancouver’s first woman D.J.
hosting her own show on C J O R and later on C B C Radio. She worked with James Cavell the author and with James Beard as his C T V show in the 1960’s. She
also created radio documentaries and authored an award winning 10 part drama
called Mothering in the 1990’s. After a visit to Ireland she wrote a musical
about a group of 50-something women at a high school reunion but the show
never took off. In 2001 she dappled in drama again by acting in small roles
such as being the real estate agent in Sean Penn’s The Pledge in 2001. At 65
years of age on June 22, 2002 she married Frank Howard.
Source
Broadcaster and writer… by Moira Dann, The Globe and Mail,
October 20, 2008; Herstory: The Canadian Women’s Calendar 2012.
|
Helen Anne Donnelly Hutchinson
45603 |
née Donnelly. Born 1934. Died February 21, 2023, Toronto, Ontario. Helen
graduated from the University of British Columbia when she was just 20.
Directly after graduation she married Jack Hutchinson, a Canadian Football
League player and the couple settled in Saskatchewan and then Winnipeg,
Manitoba where Helen earned a Master's Degree in English Literature at the
University of Manitoba. Two children rounded out the family. Helen's
broadcasting career began in the late 1960's working with the C B C
radio as a book reviewer. In 1973 with W T N's Point of View: Women
and Arts '73. From 1973 through 1974 she worked on Canada Am
at C T V winning an A C T R A award as Television's best Public Affairs
Broadcaster. From 1979 through 1987 she was a co-anchor of W5
with C T V. She the first woman to be part of C B C's Hockey Night in Canada
interviewing players with between-periods. Helen graduated with a
Master's Degree in Library Science from the University of Toronto in
November 1994. Near the end of her career she suffered from depression and
she became an activist for the debilitating disease earning the
Courage to Come Back Award. She married a second time to Edward Gabis and
became a step mother to one his daughter. Source:
Obituary, Globe and Mail, March 15, 2023. online (accessed 2023) |
Janet Jamieson |
SEE - Authors Elspeth Janette 'Elsie'
Bell Gardner |
Mariruth Laskin Jamieson |
SEE - Social Activists |
Judith Jasmin |
Born July 10, 1916,
Terrebonne, Quebec. Died October 20, 1972, Montreal, Quebec.
Educated in France and in Montreal she would be described as a talented,
brilliant determined and energetic pioneer of TV broadcasting. As a youth
she joined a theatre group in Montreal and her talents took her to work in
radio drama presentations where she gained acclaim. But her true love would
become TV journalism. When medium of TV came along she would use her
theatrical background to ultimate advantage in her presentation as an
interviewer. providing good body language to compel attention. She and
colleague Rene Levesque were credited with developing Quebec street
journalism, taking reporting out of the newsroom to where the story action
actually unfolded. She was a true pioneer who worked around the world on
site to provide viewers with a the full report. |
Michaelle Jean
|
Born September 6 1957, Port au Prince,
Haiti. She emigrated with her family in 1968 to live in Canada’s Province
of Quebec. After she completed her Masters of Arts at the University of
Montreal she took up teaching. She also worked for the betterment in the
lives of women and children in crisis by contributing to the establishment
of safe shelters. Taking some time off work, she studied language arts in
Italy. She is fluent in five languages, French, English, Spanish, Italian
and Creole. Returning to Canada she began an energetic broadcast journalism
career with Radio-Canada and earned the right to have her won show. Her
journalistic efforts were put to use to create an awareness in human rights.
Her efforts gained her awards and recognition from the Human Rights League
of Canada, Amnesty International , Canada and awards such as the Prix Mirelle-Lanctot, the Galaxi Award and being made a Citizen of Hounour by
Montreal. She is married and has a daughter, Marie Eden. She was invested as
Canada’s 27th and first Afro-Caribbean Governor General in
September 2005. |
Christine Elizabeth
Jenkins -Howson
3675
Black Newspaper Owner &
Editor |
née DeGroat. Born March 8, 1898, Chatham, Ontario. Died May
8, 1967, London, Ontario. Christine married an American university
graduate from Georgia, U.S.A. on April 30, 1913 in London, Ontario. Christine and
her husband James F. Jenkins (1884-1931) founded a pioneering
newspaper for Black readers, The Dawn of Tomorrow, in 1921 and the
publication went on to attain an international audience. The paper recorded
Black biographies, civil rights activities, editorial notes, social
announcements, as well as local and regional news. Christine and James had
nine children. Christine took over as editor after the death of her husband
in 1931. Christine married a second time to Frank S. Howson (d. 1955) and the couple
had one son who became an Olympic basketball player. After her death two of
her sons and one of her daughters continued the family publication until the
2010's. One of her daughters, Kay
Livingstone (1918-1975), was a pioneering radio host and social activist and
served as president of the Canadian Negro Women's Association.
Source: Our Lives March-April 1987 Vol 2 no. 1 Online (accessed 2022)
;: ECWW Online (accessed 2022) |
Eleanor 'Ella' Johnson |
Born 1875. Died 1950. She worked as a reporter of ladies fashion. She donned
men’s clothing posing to prove she could do a news story as well as any man.
She worked reporting on the waterfront docks for the Vancouver World.
She also reported on life in Chinatown and City Hall. She became Financial
and Marine editor for the Vancouver Sun. Tired of being a reporter
she became the 1st woman taxi driver in British Columbia working
in Victoria prior to World War l. She also worked as a logger and even tried
real estate. A handy carpenter she built her own house in Burnaby, British
Columbia and then ran her own cement construction company winning contracts
to build the 1st sewers in Burnaby and for a roundhouse for the
Canadian Pacific railway. In 1933 she took an interest in provincial
politics and ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Liberal Party. She
ran in 1937 as an independent but was once again unsuccessful. In 1941 she
left Vancouver and some people saw her on a Mexican newsreel. In 1951 she
was found dead in a hotel room in Arizona under the name Edna Jepson.
Source: Canadian Girls Who Rocked the World by Tanya Lloyd Kyi.
Walrus Books 2001. |
Elizabeth Jones |
SEE - Social Activists - Emily Spencer Kirby |
Edith Josie
Indigenous
Columnist |
Born December 8, 1921, Eagle, Alaska, U.S.A. Died January 31, 2010, Old Crow, Yukon. She was a member of the Vuntut Gwitchin Tribe,
'People of the
Lakes'. Along with regular schooling, Edith learned the traditional sills of
her peoples related to hunting and living from the land. The family moved to
the Yukon Territory upon the death of an Uncle. In the Yukon she would
raise two of her three children and care for her aging parents. In 1957 she
was appointed Justice of the Peace in her community of Old Crow. In 1962
Edith became a correspondent at the Whitehorse Star newspaper it was not
long before her column “Here are the News” became popular and syndicated!
She wrote of the everything and anything of interest to Old Crow and her
readers were charmed with the description of everyday life in the Yukon
bush. Her article went our each week on the local supply air route. Grammar,
spelling and sentence structure with of little import to Edith. She wrote as
she spoke. The writing style endeared her to her rapidly growing fan base
which eventually reached across the globe, and was translated into several
languages. Her work also became the base of several books. Her life was
opened to CBC TV viewers, readers of magazines such as Weekend Magazine
and Life. With all her success she remained humble and genuine. She
received many honours such as the Canadian Centennial Medal of 1967, the
Order of Canada in 1995 and the Aboriginal Achievement Award. She wrote her
last column in 2005 but continued as an active elder in Old Crow. In 2006 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. In 2019 a bust of Edith
was unveiled in Old Crow, Yukon. (2021) |
Linda Kay |
SEE - Authors |
Annette Kelley 4541 |
Born 1885, South Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Died
1980, South Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. After graduating high school Annette
began working at the local newspaper, The Register. She stayed for 60
years!! During World War ll (1939-1945) all the men in the newspaper left to
participate in the war effort leaving Annette to gather the news, take
photographs, sell ads, do the bookkeeping, set the type, print the paper and
prepare each issue for delivery. She earned a reputation as the best
linotype setter in Cape Breton. She also cared for her aging parents.
Source: Historical Society of old Yarmouth on Facebook
(accessed 2024) |
Elizabeth Margaret Hannah 'Betty' Kennedy |
née Styran.
Born January 4, 1926, Ottawa, Ontario. Died March
20, 2017. As a teenager Betty worked as s 'copy-girl' at the Ottawa Citizen newspaper but in the 1940's she switched to
radio. She married Gerhard William Thomas Kennedy (d. 1975) in 1948 and the couple
had four children. She began working for C F R A radio station in Toronto in 1959 where she
worked for 27 years during which time she became one of the most popular
radio personalities in Toronto. She hosted her own show and was a
panelist on the C B C television program Front Page Challenge which ran from
1962-1995. She also has an extremely long list of credits of business
appointments such as being a Director of Simpson's Ltd 1974-1979, Bank of
Montreal, beginning in 1975, and Northern Telecom ltd 1987. She was also member of metro Toronto
Hospital Planning Council 1965-70. She was the first woman chair person for
the Advisory Committee for the University of Western Ontario (School of
Journalism), London Ontario. She authored two books: Gerhard; A Love Story, 1976
and Hurricane Hazel,1982. She was awarded the
Order of Canada in 1982 and became a member of the News Hall of Fame and the
Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1998 she was made a Sister in the
Venerable Order of Saint John. Both Betty and her second husband, G. Allan Burton
(died 2003) whom she had married in 1976, were part of the initial Milton Walk of Fame.
June 20, 2000 she was appointed to the Senate of Canada and served until
January 4, 2001. In 2007 she was inducted into the Milton, Ontario Walk of
Fame. Source: Broadcasting Hall of Fame; Obituary
(accessed 2020)(2024) |
Katherine Kent |
SEE - Authors - Jean Blewett |
Anna Veronica
'Bonnie' Kines |
née McIntosh.
Died 1998, Ottawa. By the time she was 20 she had earned her BA and her
degree in Education from the University of British Columbia. She began
teaching in the coastal areas of the province. She taught in a one room
schoolhouse at Rivers Inlet in Northern British Columbia were she arrived by
steamboat with supplies need to open the school. In 1941 she was in Ottawa
working for the for the Royal Canadian Air Force eventually working in the
Intelligence Unit redacting letters from Prisoners of war. She went on to
work for the Department of Reconstruction and the Bureau of Statistics. In
1952 she became a writer with the Department of Transports staff newspaper,
News on the Dot. She returned to the RCAF as editor of the pilot’s
magazine Flight Comment. She also worked at the National Museum,
National Health and Welfare. In 1955 she joined the Media Club of Canada
(Formerly the Canadian Women’s Press Club) In 1965 she married Don Kines
(1925-2014). In 1976 she returned to school to earn a Library Technician’s
diploma. Retiring from the government and
relocating to Kanata in the west end of Ottawa she began working with the
Kanata Standard working to being community news editor. She also wrote
for the Ottawa Carleton Immigration Service’s ethnic newspaper, Mosaic.
She encouraged new writers to be curious . Her action packed life included
helping capture a bank robber and being rescued from an overturned foot
Bridge. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa. |
Namugenyi 'Nan' Kiwanuka |
She
and her family escaped the civil war in Uganda in 1983 and settled in
Canada. She studied at Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario and graduated
with a BA. She has worked as a videographer for MuchMusic and has
contributed to the Marilyn Denis Show. She has hosted and produced shows for
Sportsnet and Bet as well as reporting for ET Canada, and CNN. In 2008 she
was an Ambassador for the Canadian Red Cross and was declared by Chatelaine
Magazine as one of ’89 Canadian women to watch. In 2010 she directed a TV
pilot after writing a popular column for the BBC’s Focus on Africa Magazine.
In 2013 she was named an Emerging Filmmaker by the ReelWorld Film Festival.
She is mother to two children.
(2018) |
Ellen Gertrude Cornish Knight/Knights
4831 |
née Cornish.
Born January 11, 1877, Walkerville, Ontario. Died January 11,
1933, Sandwich (now Windsor), Ontario. Gertrude and her family settled in
Winnipeg, Manitoba where she grew up. By 1892 she was she was composing
poems and songs. Some of her writings appeared in a booklet from the Trades
and Labour Council in 1994. In April 27, 1898, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she
married Frederick Thomas Knights*(1873-1944), a railway machinist. The
family eventually settled in 1908 in Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay), Ontario
where he was foreman for the Canadian National Railroad (C N R). The couple
had three children. She taught Sunday school at the local Trinity Methodist
Church where she was also leader of the Sunshine Mission Band. She served as
president of the local West Algoma Branch of the Women’s Christian
Temperance Union (W C T U). She was also a writer and contributed poems and
feature articles to the Port Arthur Daily News. She would soon take
over the women’s’ page using the pen name ‘Miss Helper’. She would also use
the pen names ‘Mrs. F’ or Mrs. F.S. Knight. She was a member of the local
branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club (C W P C). Her writings show her
to be not only a feminist but also a Canadian nationalist. She would also
pen stage plays involving children to raise money for charities and the war
relief from 1914-1918. There were often songs composed by her featured in
her stage shows one of which was: War Time in Song and Story. One of
her productions, The Courtship of Miss Canada became known
nationally. Her poems, plays, and songs raised some $10,000.00 dollars for
charity. In 1920 the family relocated to Sioux Lookout but visited Port
Arthur frequently. * The D C B cites the family name as Knights. It is not
know why she used the name Knight.
Source: Gertrude Cornish Knight, Womens History Month, City of Thunder Bay
with reference to Thunder Bay Museum’s Papers & Records Xxiv, 1996 Wartime
in Song and Story By F. Brent Scollie. Online (accessed 2024); Dictionary of
Canadian Biography online (accessed 2024) ; Early Canadian Women Writers
database, online (accessed 2024) |
Leith Margaret Knight
3759 |
née Docherty. Born April 13, 1924, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Died June
27, 2013, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Leith enjoyed listening to her mother's
stories of their hometown. In 1954 she married Cyril 'Cy' Knight
(1916-2004) from C H A B radio where she worked as a creative writer. In the
early 1950's she began working at city hall and took minutes for the
local museum committee. She soon was working at the Public Library and in
1968 she set up the local history collection.
She is considered to be the city's first archivist and the collections she
built were the first such collections in the province.
In 1969 she began a weekly column for the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. Her
publications include Birds of the Moose Jaw Area, 1967, and All
the Moose, All the Jaw a local history composed of a collection of her
newspaper columns, published in 1982.
Retiring from the Public Library in 1983 she continued to write her
newspaper column. Leith was also an accomplished pianist and played
the organ at her Minto United Church as well as performing and playing at
most of the other churches in town. She was proud of playing the church
bells when Queen Elizabeth visited the city in 1978. In 2010 the couple
receive the Moose Jaw Honours Award.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022); Find
a Grave Canada. online (accessed 2022) |
Myrna Kostash |
SEE - Authors |
Audrey Jeanne
Kunkel |
Born October
27, 1946. Died April 2, 2009 , Phoenix, Arizona. Audrey studied to become a
teacher with her BEd 1969 and her BA in 1971 from the University of
Saskatchewan. She was a member of the Canadian Educational Press Association
from 1972 and in 1985 she began serving as the Executive Secretary for the
association. She received eight Distinguished Achievement Awards for
Excellence n Educational Journalism from the Educational Press Association
of America. She was also a member of the communications staff of the
Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation where she served as editor of the
Saskatchewan Bulletin. From time to time she also worked for the United
Church Observer.
Sources:
Audrey Kunkel, Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada 1991 ; Obituary,
The Star, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. April 2009. |
Sylvia Maria Kuzyk |
Born February 27, 1950, Berlin, Germany. In 1968 she attended the Red River
Community College to study nursing. Thinking that nursing was not her niche
she graduated from the Actor’s Showcase Theatre School in 1972. She has one
daughter. For over 20 years she has been at the forefront of broadcasting on
Manitoba television. She was one of the 1st female TV
broadcasters in Western Canada. She has worked with the United Way and
bolstered donations to the Koats for Kids program. In 2004 she was the
YM-YWCA woman of Distinction and in 2009 she was inducted into the Order of
Manitoba.
(2018) |
Cécile Laberge |
Born 1861.
Died 1948.
In
1904 she was a member of a group of women journalists sponsored by the
Canadian Pacific Railroad to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It
was during the train trip that she participated in the founding of the
Canadian Women's Press Club. In 1908 she married Arthur Léger. In the 1920’s
she served as president of the Provincial Franchise Committee/Comité
provincial pour le suffrage feminine. She wrote the English language
history for the 50th anniversary of the Ladies Morning Musical
Club which had a member ship of 1200. She had served as president for 9
years and was there when the famous African American singer, Marion
Anderson, was not allowed into a hotel in Montreal. The singer stayed at
Cécile’s home.
Source: Linda
Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that inspired the Canadian Women’s Press
Club, 2012. |
Lisa Laflamme |
Born July 25,
1964, Kitchener, Ontario. Lisa earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of
Ottawa. In 1989 she began her career with CTV in Kitchener, Ontario on C K C O.
By 1997 she was the consumer reporter for C T V News. In 1998 -2000 she was
the prime news anchor for C T V Newsnet. In 1999 she earned the Galaxi Award
form Canadian Cablevision Television Network. She became an Ambassador of
PLAN International highlighting child poverty around the world. In 2003
through 2010 she served as the national affairs correspondent for C T V
national news covering wars, elections and disasters. In 2011 she was
appointed Chief Ancho and Senior Editor for CTV News. In 2014 she earned the
Canada Screen Award and the Bert Canning Award from the R T News Directors
Award. She was inducted into the Order of Ontario and in 2019 she was
inducted into the Order of Canada in recognition of her contributions to
journalism and broadcasting and for her support of human rights. During
the pandemic (2019-2023) Lisa let her hair return to its natural colour,
grey. Shortly after this C T V dismissed her from the job. Are women
newscasters not to have Grey hai. While there was a furor on behalf of viewers
she was not reinstated in her job. |
Andréanne
Lafond 3919 |
Born 1919 ?* Lyon, France. Died January 29, 2012, Montreal,
Quebec. Andréanne immigrated to live and work in Quebec in 1948. Andréanne
would become a pioneer who would expand the representation of women in
journalist over the next decade. She worked as a script assistant for
several Quebec films before joining Radio-Canada. She worked on a
number of public affairs programs and was host for the literary magazine, Le
tréfle à quatre feuilles. Along with Senator Solange Chaput-Rolland
(1919-2001) she founded and directed the magazine Points de vue from 1955
through 1961. From 1976 to 1983 she was co-host of the radio program, La
Vie quodienne. In 1983 she earned the Prix des communications du Québec
and in 1889 she took home the Olivar-Asslin Award.
*Some sources say 1920. (2022) |
Michele Landsberg-Lewis |
Born July 12, 1939, Toronto, Ontario. After high school she spent a year on a
kibbutz in Israel. Returning home she attended the University of Toronto
graduating in 1962 and joined the staff of the Toronto Globe and Mail
newspaper. The following year she married politician Stephen Henry Lewis
(born 1937) and the couple has three children. After taking off some time to
have her children she began working as a writer of a regular column and
editor for Chatelaine magazine in 1971. In 1978 she became a staff
member of the Toronto Star newspaper writing a regular column on
feminist issues. In the 1980’s, while living in New York City, U.S.A. she
wrote a column for the Globe and Mail on New York living and a book This
Is New York, Honey. In 2005 the Michele Landsberg Award to recognize
outstanding young women in media and activism by the Canadian Women’s
Foundation. That same year she returned to work at the Toronto Star.
During her long career she has received two National Newspaper Awards, has
been the Y W C A Woman of Distinction, received the Dodi Robb Award from MediaWatch, received the Robertine Barry Prize for journalism, earned the
Florence Bird Award from the International Centre for Human Rights and
Democratic Development, as well at the Governor General’s Award in
Commemoration of the 1929 Persons Case. In 2006 she was inducted into the
Order of Canada. In 2011 she published Writing the Revolution
published by the University of Toronto Press. In 2012 she became a member of
the Board for Women’s College Hospital. |
Michelle Justine Lang
3920 |
Born January 31, 1975, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died
December 30, 2009, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Michelle graduated with
her Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University in British
Columbia. She began her career working at the Prince George Free Press in
British Columbia. Moving to Saskatchewan she worked with the Moose Jaw
Times Herald and the Regina Leader-Post before relocating once again, this
time to Calgary, Alberta, to work with the Calgary Herald newspaper.
In 2008 she earned a National Newspaper Award for best reporting for work
she did non national and provincial health-care. While on a special
assignment to Afghanistan for Canada West New Service she was killed along
with four Canadian soldiers when the armoured military vehicle she was
riding in struck a roadside bomb. Michelle was
the first Canadian journalist to die in the Afghanistan war.
(2022) |
Louise Marguerite Renaude -Lapointe |
SEE - Politicians and Public Servants |
Laurette Laroque-Auger |
née
Laroque. Born September 1, 1906 Hull, Quebec. Died January 27, 1965,
Montreal, Quebec. As a youth she worked in amateur thea tre which would become a life
long love for her. At 22 she married actor Jacques Auger in Paris, France
where the couple studied at the famous Sorbonne. The couple had one
daughter. The couple separated and Laurette found the need to support
herself. She soon had gained a reputation for script writing and wrote the
plots for Quebec French language soap operas for decades. Even when on
holiday she would send along her scripts for production. In 1947 she was
recognized by the Legion for her generous attention s providing treats,
and entertainment for the wounded soldiers at St Anne de Bellevue Hospital.
She used the pen name of Jean Despréz
and was well known for speaking her mind freely on all subjects. She
appeared on local French radio and television and earned a reputation as a
theatre critic. She was a playwright who also directed and produced French
language plays. Laurette is an integral part of history of French Canada's
theatre, radio, cinema and television. (2019) |
Lisa Laco
4865 |
Born 1957?
Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Died August 20, 2021, Thunder Bay, Ontario.
After having attended broadcast school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Lisa began
her radio career with the C B C in Newfoundland. She held numerous positions
at C B C stations in Corner Brook and St. Johns. In 1992 she moved to live
in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Two years later she married Brad Laco, and the
couple had two sons. In 1997 in the city she took the helm of the TV morning
show as producer but soon found herself in front of the cameras. She loved
brining important stories to the community and gave a voice to the people to
tell the stories. She hosed the morning show for 25 years inspiring the
people to sit up and listen and take action when necessary. She was always
ready to serve her community. In 2018 she received a Good Citizen Award from
the City of Thunder Bay. In 2020 she retired from hosting Superior Morning
having been diagnosed Amyotrophic lateral Sclerosis (A L S), but she
continued to have her community at heart. A strong believer in
reconciliation a bursary fund has been established at the Northern Nishnawbe
Educational Council.
Source: Women’s History Month, City of Thunder Bay. Online (accessed 2024)
; Lisa Laco, retired CBC Thunder Bay radio host, dies at 64, C B C Thunder
Bay, Updated August 2021, Online (accessed 2024); Obituary, Country Haven
Funderal Home, Online (accessed 2024)
|
Monique Laure |
Born April 3, 1948 Longueil, Quebec. After attending the College
Marie-de-France she attended the Université of Montréal and the Ecole des
hautes études in Paris France. Returning to Quebec she began her long
teaching career at Cégep Edouard-Montpetit, Longueuil. A respected author in
the French language she began publishing novels in 1979.
She has sat on juries for various literary prizes,
including the
Prix Émile-Nelligan,
the
Prix Athanase-David,
the
Governor General's
Literary Awards and the Grand prix littéraire de la ville de
Montréal.
(2018) |
Lillian Laurie |
SEE - Lillian Baynon Thomas |
Agnes Christina Laut |
Born February
1871, Stanley Township, Huron County, Ontario. Died November 14, 1936. While
still a toddler in 1873 her family relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Like
many of her generation she attended Normal School (Teacher’s College) and
when just 15 she was teaching in public schools. In 1889 she attended the
University of Manitoba but ill health forced her to withdraw in her second
year. In 1895 she began a 2 year stint with the Winnipeg Free Press. In 1898
she travelled across country submitting travel articles to various
publications along the way. In 1901 she published a book, Lords of the
North , which helped finance her relocation to Wassaic, New York, U.S.A.
Continuing to writing she submitted articles to various North American
publications including Financial Post, Saturday Evening Post, Review of
Reviews and Collier’s. In 1909 she published the book The Canadian
Commonwealth, and began writing for MacLean’s Magazine often
items of political commentary which was unusual for a female journalist. Her
commentary allowed Canadian to open their perspective to the wider North
American scene. In all she would publish 24 books with a north American
historical background.
Source:
The Pioneering Journalism of Agnes C. Laut During the Great War. Cleo’s
Current August 18, 2014. Online (Accessed August 2014) ; Agnes C. Laut
Funeral today., The Windsor Daily Star, November 17, 1936. |
Lily Janet Laverock |
Born 1880 (?),Edinburgh, Scotland. Died December 2, 1969, Duncan, British
Columbia, She was the 1st woman to graduate in moral philosophy from McGill
University, Montreal. She became the1st woman reporter in Vancouver with
the World and Two years later, she was assigned women's editor of
News-Advertiser. In 1909, founded Vancouver branch of Canadian Women's
Press Club. An avid arts supporter, she promoted her 1st Celebrity Concert
in 1921, bringing world-famed performers to Vancouver packing the Denman
Arena auditorium with acts like the Ballet Ruses de Monte Carlo and Belgian
Royal Symphonic Band. Source: The Vancouver Hall of Fame online (accessed November 2012)
|
Jessie Kerr
Lawson |
Born 1838 Fifeshire, Scotland. Died July 30, 1917. As a
journalist she would first use the pen name Hugh Airlie for her regular
column in the publication The Grip. In 1988 she would publish a book of
these articles called the Epistles O' Hugh Airlie (Toronto, 1888).
later she would use and Irish pen name, and continue her popular writing.
She also published more books including Dr. Bruno's Wife (Toronto ,
1893) and while she lived in Scotland, the Harvest of Moloch (
London, 1908). The family, including ten children, returned to again live in
Canada in 1911. She turned her talents to poetry and published Lays
and Lyrics (Toronto, 1913) |
Eunice Laycraft |
née Gardiner. Born Merlin, (now Chatham) Ontario. Eunice always loved
to write and at 12 she had her 1st bylines in the Family Herald and
the Star Weekly. From 1946 through 1956 she was news editor for the
Radio station C F C O, Chatham, Ontario. For the next two years she was a
broadcaster and news writer for C F P L Radio in London, Ontario. After 1958
she moved to a position as morning commentator for CBC Radio in Ottawa,
Ontario. It was here that she moved to print media becoming the Women’s
Editor for the Ottawa Journal until 1967. She had married Norman
Laycraft in 1966 and decided to leave her full time day job but she
freelanced and remained with the Ottawa Journal as a columnist until
her retirement in 1979. She was a Member of the Media Club of Canada serving
as president in 1963. She was also an active member of the Young Men’s
Christian Association serving as one of the two first women delegates to the
national meeting in Toronto in 1956 which she followed up as a delegate to
the YMCA Centenary in Paris, France in 1955.
Source: Eunice (Gardiner)
Laycraft , Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada, 1991; files of the
Media Club of Ottawa.
|
Betty Lee |
Born December 18, 1921, Sydney, Australia. Died March 17, 2015 Toronto, Ontario.
In grade school Betty produced a daily neighbourhood newspaper in long hand
and sold copies for a penny. This was the beginning of her desire to write.
She left school at 16 learn shorthand and typing so she could become a
secretary. She preferred to be called by her last name saying she felt like
a ‘lee’. An early job was writing scripts for a Radio station and then as a
writer and editor for a publishing house and fashion magazine. In 1950 she
went to London, England to work for the Daily Mirror newspaper but
the job was short lived. By 1953 she was working at the Toronto Globe and
Mail as a reporter, rewrite editor, feature writer and editorial writer.
She took off for New York City in the United States where she covered
stories of the United Nations. She returned once again to the Globe and
Mail as a feature writer for the weekly Globe magazine which was
included in the weekend edition of the newspaper. She would tale and
interest and fought for criminal justice rights. She traveled the world for
the Globe and Mail and won a national newspaper award for her lengthy
series on the insurance industry. In 1972 she became the 1st
Canadian woman granted a journalism Fellow at Massey College, University of
Toronto. Leaving the employ of the Globe and Mail she did freelanced
writing for such magazines as Chatelaine, Canadian Business and the
Moneyworth TV show. She would publish a book about the life of her
partner Dorothy Knight who had worked as a nurse in the Canadian Arctic.
Source; Lisa Fitterman, Obituary, Globe and Mail March 24, 2015.
|
Gail Elizabeth Lem |
Born November 20, 1955. Gail attended Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario
to earn her Bachelor of Journalist in 1978. During her studies she worked
for the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. After graduating she worked for the
Canadian Press until 1982. She was the 1st woman to be president of the
Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild (SONG) In 1986 she returned to school for
studies at Humber College, Toronto, Ontario for a Certificate in Labour
Studies and became a union representative. In 1994 she became the 1st woman
to sit on the Executive Board of the International Organization of
Journalists.
(2018) |
Alexis Mazurin 4326 |
Born April 18, 1973, Fort St. John, British
Columbia. Died October 20, 2005, Vancouver, British Columbia. Alexis studied
journalism at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Burnaby, British
Columbia. She worked with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (C B C)
hosting radio programs and then joined C B C Radio 3 in 2003 as one of the
original hosts of early Radio 3 which started out as a program on Radio 2
prior to becoming a satellite Radio. As a comedienne she wrote and performed
with the Hot Sauce Posse comedy group. When Radio 3 was launched on
satellite radio in December 2005 the main studio was named in her
honour. She suffered a massive heart attack and lingered in a coma for a
month before her death. (2023) |
Marjorie
'Marge' Anthony
Linden |
Born October
10, 1935, Mill Village, Nova Scotia. Died April 1, 2013, Malibu, California.
Her mother died when she was three but thanks to siblings she enjoyed an
active childhood. She loved to sing and she sang and danced at 13 on radio.
She began her career as a script assistant , communicator and singer for CBC
TV in Halifax. At 24 she relocated to Montreal singing and recording her
own album. She soon joined radio as a commercial writer and then on to
working for Television. She was the 1st female all night disc
jockey on Montreal radio and the 1st woman to appear in regular
programming on C F C F-TV. She worked for N B C in Houston, Texas before ending
up in Hollywood managing the famous comedians the Smothers’ Brothers. She
was at CBS New York prior to moving back to Canada in 1978. In the 1980’s
she was v-p of network relations at CTV but her office door read “Vice
Princess”. She was the 1st woman v-p in Canadian television. In
1984 she married for the third time to Judge Allen Linden and became a
loving step mom to three daughters. She was the 1st female President of the
Broadcasting Executive Society and in 1997 she was inducted into the
Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She had a gift with
people and it was said that she charmed all whom she met including the Pop
and Queen Elizabeth 11. She retired in 1990 1st to Ottawa and
shortly after to Malibu, California. Source: “Broadcast
pioneer charmed all she met…” by Susan Ferrier MacKay and Allison Lawlor.
The Globe and Mail May 4, 2013. |
Anne Lindsay |
née Elliott.
Born 1943, Vancouver, British Columbia. Anne trained as a home economist
earning her degree at the University of British Columbia. In 1966 she
married Bob Lindsay and the couple would have 3 children. In the 1970’s she
was a home Economist for the Toronto Daily Star newspaper. In 1979
she started writing for Canadian Living magazine. In 1984 she wrote a
cook book for the Canadian Cancer Society and produced 5 additional cook
books with and for charitable organizations. In 1992 she became nutrition
editor for Canadian Living. Her work for magazines and her books provide
accurate good nutrition by employing fun and a practical approach to healthy
eating and living. In July 2003 she became a Member of the Order of Canada.
Sources: Order of Canada online (accessed July 2011). |
Keiko Margaret Inouye Lyons
4550 |
Born November 21, 1923, Mission, British
Columbia. Died October 5, 2019, Toronto, Ontario. During the Second World
War (1939-1945) with the government forced Japanese encampments the family
was relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1944 she moved to Hamilton working
as a maid to pay for high school education. She went on to attend McMaster
University, Hamilton, Ontario and in 1949 married Ed Lyons when they both
graduated. The couple settled in London, England where their two children
were born. Margaret worked as a typist in the B B C's foreign newsroom and
worked her way to the broadcaster's producer training program. She was able
to work in French, Japanese and English languages and was soon producer for
the Overseas Service in English for Asia Dicision. In 1960 she returned to
Canada hiring producers and on-air journalists for the C B C. She
would see the establishment of such how as Quirks and Quarks, The Kids in
the Hall and Road to Avonlea. In 1981 Margaret became the managing
director of AM radio for the English Language Division of the C B C. In 1983
she became the first woman in the C B C's vice president when appointed vice
president of the English Language Radio Network. She would break barriers
for women hiring many new and untried talents for C B C radio. In 1982 she
was inducted into the McMaster University Alumni Gallery and in 2014 the
McMaster Alumni Association presented her the Distinguished Service Award.
In 2009 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. She served in
various organizations including the Canadian Association of Japanese
Language Educators, the William Lyon Mackenzie House Museum, the Ontario
Heritage Connection and on McMaster University Senate. The McMaster
University Lyons New Media Centre is named in her honour.
Source: Canadian Broadcasters Hall of Fame online (accessed 2024) |
Genevieve Elsie Alice
Lipsett -Skinner |
Born 1886
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Died January 29, 1935, Montreal, Quebec. The young
Lipsett family moved to Toronto when Genevieve was just an infant. Later
they relocated to Winnipeg and back to the U.S.A. settling in New York. From
1900-1903 she attended New York Normal School (Teachers College) and in 1904
she was off to Manitoba to teach. She found herself working from 1904
through 1917 with the Winnipeg Telegram newspaper as a reporter and editor
to the “Sunshine Department of the paper. Outside of the office she served
in 1909-10 as Secretary for the Winnipeg Branch of the Canadian Women’s
Press Club. In 1910 she served as Director of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society.
On June 6, 1911 she married Winnipeg businessman Robert Curtis Skinner, whom
she stated was a staunch supporter of herself as a modern working woman. In
1912 she joined the Political Equality League, an organization dedicated to
the advancement of women’s rights including the right to vote. In 1918 she
and her younger brother Robert Lipsett started the Lipsett-skinner Press
News Bureau specializing in Publicity Campaigns. It was a memorable year for
Genevieve as she graduated in law from the University of Manitoba as the 1st
qualified married woman in this field. By 1919 she saw the end of her
marriage and was once again working back at the Telegram. In June 1920 she
was an unsuccessful candidate for the Progressive Conservative party running
for the Manitoba Provincial Legislature. Later that same year she began
working for the Vancouver Sun Newspaper out of British Columbia. She would
spend the next five years as an official Parliamentary correspondent in
Ottawa, the 1st woman member of the Press gallery. By 1926 she
was writing for the Montreal Star newspaper. In the late 1920’s she toured
England and Ireland lecturing about the Dominion of Canada. In 1933 her
picture was hung on the Ottawa Press Gallery wall along with her male
colleagues. While in Montreal she served four years as President of the
local branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. At her funeral in Montreal
large floral displays were presented from the CWPC and Prime Minister
Mackenzie King.
Source:
Memorable Manitobans. Online. (accessed June 2014) ; “Associates Mourn
Noted Journalist.” Montreal Gazette February 21, 1935 ; Obituary.
Winnipeg Tribune January 30, 1935. |
Dorothy
Kathleen May
Livesay |
Born
October 12, 1909, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died
December 29, 1996 Victoria British Columbia. Dorothy attended the University
of Toronto graduating in 1931 and earned a diploma from the School of Social
Work at U of T in 1934. She also did some studies at the University of
British Columbia and the Sorbonne in Paris, France.
In 1931 she became a Communist and joined
the Communist Party of Canada in 1933.
A journalist and literary critic, she is also known for her short stories
of fiction and her poetry. She was active in the
Canadian Labour Defense League, the Canadian League Against War and Fascism,
Friends of the Soviet Union and the Workers' Unity League. In 1935 she
settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1937 she married Duncan
Macnair and the couple had 2 children In 1941 she was one of the
founders of the poetry magazine Contemporary Verse. In 1944
she won the Governor General’s Award for her work Day and Night and won again
in 1947 for Poems of the People. That
year she was elected a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada and earned the
Lorne Pierce Medal from the Society. She taught in Northern Rhodesia
(now Zambia) from 1953 through 1963. In 1973 she wrote a memoir, A
Winnipeg Childhood which she followed in 1977 with another memoir,
Right Hand Left Hand: A True Life of the Thirties. She was an
instructor and writer-in-residence at universities across Canada. In 1977
she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Medal. In
1984 she earned the Governor General's Persons Case Award.
She was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1987. In 1989
The
Dorothy Livesay
Poetry Prize was named in her
honour. It is a category of the
BC Book Prizes
that is awarded to authors of the best work of poetry in a given year, where
those authors are British Columbia or Yukon residents. In 1991 her last
memoir, Journey With My Selves: A memoir 1909-1963 was published.
(2019) |
Florence
Hamilton
Livesay |
SEE - Poets |
Jeannine Lock |
Born (Twin of
Robert) April 16, 1925 Indian Head, Saskatchewan. Died February 26, 2012.
While still in high school she became a correspondent for the Prince
Albert Daily Herald. She continued her education and earned an Masters
degree at the University of Saskatchewan in 1949. Taking a staff position at
Chatelaine Magazine she moved to Toronto. By 1960 she was a reporter
for the Toronto Star and was living in London, England as the Star’s 1st
woman bureau chief. In 1964, back in Toronto she married Peter Reilly, a
journalist. The couple moved to New York City, U.S.A. in 1967 when Mr.
Reilly was the United Nation’s correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (CBC). While in New York City Jeannine wrote articles for the
Toronto Star Weekly . In 1969 she moved to television journalism producing
documentaries. In 1979 she turned her talents to drams producing her own
scripts for TV. In 1987 she won an ACTRA Award for Chautauque Girl as
the best program of the year. She retired in 1990 using her time to
volunteer for causes such as saving Ramsden Park in Toronto. Source “A
trailblazing Woman Journalist” by Susan Ferrier Mackay, The Globe and
Mail, March 12, 2013.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
|
Jessie London
|
née Macwalker. Died July 24, 2014, Toronto, Ontario. As a student at Acadia
University Jessie worked as a journalist in Saint John, New Brunswick. After
graduating from university she relocated to Toronto, Ontario to work with
Public Relations at the Robert Simpson Company. She became editor of
Chatelaine Magazine but the post was short lived as she was lured back
to work for Simpson’s in 1964. A volunteer with the Helicon Society she was
the founder of the Heliconian Foundation. She married Allison Cheyne London
(1918-1975) and the couple had 2 children. Source: Obituaries, The Globe and Mail, July 28, 2014.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario. |
Irene Currie
Love |
Born 1881(?)
Died 1945. As a school girl, Irene won a prize in a writing competition run by
the London Advertiser and she became a contributor to the newspaper. In 1904
she was a member of a group of women journalists sponsored by the Canadian
Pacific Railroad to travel and cover the St Louis World's Fair. It was
during the train trip that she participated in the founding of the Canadian
Women's Press Club. In 1912 she would marry journalist Elfred S. Archibald
of Montreal. Using Margaret Currie as her byline from 1914 through 1945 she
was editor of the Women’s pages of the Montreal Daily Star. 1924 a
compendium of her advice columns including helpful household and beauty tips
was published as Margaret Currie – Her Book.
Source: Linda
Kay, Sweet Sixteen: the journey that inspired the Canadian Women’s Press
Club, 2012. |
Doris Clark
Ludwig |
Born October 25, 1909.
Died October 6, 2005. She attended McGill
University in Montreal in 1930 and then a Masters in Social Work from the
University of Toronto. She began her career in Hamilton, Ontario
in city planning. It was here that she began to build a reputation as a
writer. She made the novel suggestion of having a professional report on
social work Her feature column, “Successful Living” was published in some
25 daily newspapers and more than 100 weeklies across North America
1960-1988. A true pioneer, she bequeathed to those who followed in
journalism an ideal of professionalism and independence. She settled down
and married at 82 and enjoyed travelling with her husband until she became a
widow at 92. Submitted by Connie Johnson |
Constance Lynd |
SEE - Social Activists - Emily Spencer Kirby |
Gloria Macarenko |
Born 1962 Prince Rupert, British
Columbia. For her 1st job in broadcasting was she presented the news
after school on weekdays and weekend mornings for Prince Rupert Radio. In
1979 became Miss Pacific Northwest Exhibition. She studied journalism at the
British Columbia Institute of Technology and worked as a beat reporter for a
Vancouver radio station. She then spent four years traveling in Sprain and
France studying languages, art history, and teaching English. In 1989 she
was back in Canada working for the CBC TV in Vancouver. On September 2, 1998
she was reporting the crash of the SwissAir Flight crash near Peggy's Cove,
Nova Scotia for five hours and won Radio and Television Director's
Association and Gemini Award for Best Live News Coverage. Her work has
garnered her numerous awards including the Jack Webster Aware for best New
Reporting in 2002 the Leo Award for Best Anchor in a News Program in 2004.
She is an active community volunteer and host for such organizations as Arts
Umbrella, Dr. Peter Centre, and the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. In
2005 she was named one of
TVWeek's
10 Most Beautiful People in British Columbia. (2019) |
Agnes Maule Machar
4499
'Fidelis' |
Born January 23, 1837, Kingston, Upper Canada
(now Ontario). Died January 24, 1927, Kingston, Ontario. As a young girl
Agnes spent a year in a boarding school in Montreal but other than than was
educated by her father John Machar who had helped to found Queen's College
(Now Queen's University. After the death of her father Agnes remained with
her mother and after her death she lived with her married brother. She would
publish her first book in 1859 . She wrote a prize winning novel Katie
Johnstone's Cross: A Canadian Tale in 1870 She often used the pen-name
'Fidelis' penning a memorial to her father, eight novels and numerous pomes
and essays. In the 1880's she served as treasurer of the Kingston
Presbyterian Women's Foreign Missionary Society. She also enjoyed
witting popular history. In the 1890's she served as president of the
Kingston Humane Society and was a founder of the Canadian Audubon Society.
Many of her poems appeared in North American and British periodicals and a
selection of her poems was published as Lays of the True North and other
Canadian Poems in 1899. Many of her works were published in school
texts. She supported concerns for the working poor and unemployed and when
presenting a paper to the National Council of Women in 1895 she recommended
that homes be established for them. She herself left a bequest to establish
the Agnes Maule Home for old ladies past earning their own livelihood which
opened in Kingston in 1930 sponsored by the Local Council of Women. She had
served on the executives of both the Local Council of Women and the National
Council of Women. She was a staunch feminist who believed that women ,
through education, could develop their talents and make them better
Christians, wives, and mothers. She advocated for shorter working hours for
women and children and at the same time lobbied for equal pay for women. In
the first decade of the 19th century she was a founding member of the local
Canadian Women's Press Club and vice president of the Women's Art
Association of Canada. While in her 80's she published Young Soldier
Hearts of France: a Wreath of Immortelles published in 1911 for which
she had edited and translated letters of gallant French-speaking soldiers
who had died during the Great War (1914-1918). Source: D C B |
Catherine Dunlop MacKenzie
3923 |
Born 1894? Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Died October 24, 1949, New
York City, U.S.A. Catherine worked as the personal secretary and research
assistant to the acclaimed inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) from
1915 until his death. In 1928 she published a biography entitled,
Alexander Graham Bell: The Man Who Contracted Space. In 1925 she began
working for the New York Times newspaper. In 1926 she married a
New York writer Edward Hale Bierstadt. She relocated to New York City in
1929 and worked writing a series of articles for the government of Nova
Scotia about the province. By 1939 she she had become the parent/child
editor for eh New York Times and stayed working there until her
death. In 1947 she received the Lasker Foundation Award from the National
Committee Against Mental Illness for her work on mental illness which had
appeared in her column. (2022) |
Mary 'Ida' Mackie |
née Luxton. Born 1926 British Columbia. Died March 3, 2012 Toronto, Ontario.
Ida earned the title ‘BC Mary as a crusading journalist and later crusading
blogger. She began her career as a freelance writer for the Family Herald
magazine and other publications of the 1950’s. She wrote during time she was
raising her two children and a mountain cattle ranch with her husband
Bernard Allan Mackie. The couple worked together producing several books on
such topics as construction with logs. They also founded the B. Allan Mackie
School of Log Building and the Canadian Log Builders Association which is
now the International Log Builders Association. Ida enjoyed developing a
lively network son British Columbia politics. Her death was acknowledged in
the British Columbia Legislature as a defender of democracy.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa. |
Dorothy Maclean 4362 |
Born January 7, 1920, Guelph, Ontario. Died
March 12, 2020. Dorothy earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of
Western Ontario, London, Ontario. Beginning in 1941 she took a position with
the British Security Coordination in New York City, U.S.A. She was living in
England in the 1950's when she met Peter Caddy and became involved with the
spiritual practices of the Caddys. She took a position as secretary to the
Caddy hotel in Scotland. In the 1960's they were all living in the of
Findhorn, Scotland. Less than ten years the Findhorn Foundation became
their name. Dorothy left Findhorn in 1973 founding an educational
organization with David Spangler in North America. She would write ten books
during her career, mainly endorsing her spiritualism. In 1994 she was part
of a documentary, Opening to Angels - Guardian Angels and the Angelic
Realm. Her family home in Guelph has been declared a heritage
property with the Ontario Heritage Act. In 2010 a full-length biography was
published: Ordinary Mystic. That same year she retired from public
life and returned to live in Findhorn. (2023) |
Mary Emily
MacLeod Moore
3673
World War 1 Correspondent |
Born December 4, 1871, La Prairie, Quebec. Died February 26,
1960, London England. Mary had a lot of tragedy during her early years with
the death of her two sisters in 1882 and the destruction of the family home
by fire from lightening. While attending boarding school in Montreal she
created the school newspaper. She continued her education at the New York
School of Applied Design for Women, New York City, U.S.A. Back in Canada by
1898 she worked with the Montreal Metropolitan as an editor prior to being
hired in 1902 as women's editor for the Montreal Herald. It was here that
she used the nom de plume 'Pandora'. During her writing career she would use
several pen names including; M. E., McL, and M. She also worked for a short
time with the Montreal Star before heading for New York and the publication
L'art de la Mode. Mary was in attendance at the first convention of the
Canadian Women's Press Club which had been formed in 1904. In 1907 she and
her mother settled in London, England, with her brother. In 1910 she was
writing a 'London Letter' for Toronto's Saturday Night magazine. In England
she wrote for the London Sunday Times. In December 1917, during World War l
(1914-1918) she was one of four women correspondents, Elizabeth Montizambert
(1875-1964), Beatrice Nasmyth (1885-1966), and Florence McPherson
(1879-1935), who accompanied Alberta Member of the Legislative Assemble (M L
A) Roberta MacAdams (1889-1959) to the front lines in France. In 1919 she
published The Maple Leaf's Red Cross which recounted many of the stories of
women in the war. In 1923 she married newspaper editor Leonard Rees. She
seems to have retired in 1940 as no articles appear with her byline after
this date. Source: E C W W online (accessed 2022)
|
Madeleine |
SEE
- Anne Marie Gleason |
Manon |
SEE
-
Emma Gendron
|
Josephine Hersélle-Henriette
Marchand-Dandurand |
née Marchand.
Born December 5 1861, Saint Jean sur Richelieu, Lower Canada (Now Québec).
Died March 2, 1925, Montreal, Quebec. Josephine was educated in a convent
school where she enjoyed education in both French and English. She began to
write short stories, tales and plays when she was young. From 17 she kept a
secret diary sometimes with entries sometimes in English. On January 12,
1886 she married Raul Dandurand, a lawyer and later appointed to the senate
of Canada. The couple would have one daughter. From
1893 through December 1896 she
founded the monthly magazine Le coin du feu which was
the 1st French language periodical in
Canada to be edited by a woman. She wrote much of the articles
and columns in the monthly production using such pen names as Mme Danderand
or Marie Vieutemps. After ceasing her own magazine she wrote for Le Monde
illustré, Le journal de Francoise and La Revue moderne. In 1894 she became a
lecturer in English as was called ‘the female Laurier’ which was a reference
comparing her to the eloquent Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
In 1898 she founded the Euvre des livres gratuits to provide reading
materials to students and teachers in remote areas. The Government of France
awarded her with the title of Officier d’Académie in recognition of her
championing the French language in Canada. In 1900 she represented Canada as
a commissioner of the Government at the International Congress of Women and
the Paris World Fair. She was a member of the Montreal local Council of
Women and went on to serve as the Vice President of the Council of Women of
Canada. In 1902 she founded the women’s section of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste
de Montreal which provided another outlet for her strong feminist views. In
1924 she published a book of her journalistic writings. In 2015 the city of
Ottawa announced that it would name a street after Josephine Marchand-Danderand
as part of a special project to rename 12 streets after Canadian women of
Achievement. Sources: Line Gosselin,
MARCHAND, JOSÉPHINE (Dandurand), DC B vol. 15; Erin McCracken Names
of trailblazing Canadian Women may be coming to a street near you. Ottawa
South News, November 5, 2015. (2020) |
'The Marchioness' |
SEE - Agnes Mary Scott |
Marie-Louise-Joséphine-Ester-Eliza
Marmette |
Born March 29, 1870 Québec. Died May 2, 1928 Montréal, Québec. A
granddaughter of known historian François Xavier Garneau (1809-1866) there was no doubt
of her literary birthright. As a child Marie-Louise was educated by religious sisters
and is thought to have studied literature in Paris, France. July 6, 1892 she
married Donat Brodeur (d.1920) in Ottawa, Ontario. The couple settled in
Montreal where they had a family of three sons and five daughters. She wrote
articles, newspaper columns, poetry, short stories, and novellas but it was
not until after her death that her daughter, Marguerite, collected several
pieces of her work and published a book, Figures et paysages
(Montreal, 1931)
Source:
D C B Vol. XV 2011. (2022) |
Amy
Louise Marsland |
née Downey. Born March 23, 1924, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Died June 3, 2013,
Greene, New York, U.S.A. Amy attended the University of Saskatchewan
graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1943. While a student she volunteered on the
university newspaper the Sheaf. She
was one of seven
students, all women, who collaborated on the publication in 1943 of Seven
Sheaves, a volume of poetry dedicated to the Sheaf. She went on
to complete a Doctorate (PhD) degree in Romance Languages at the University of Michigan
in the United States where she settled, combining writing books with
newspaper editing, and some university teaching. In 1951 she married William
D. Marsland from New York State in the U.S. The couple had four children. In 1958, Amy and her husband, bought the weekly Chenango American, in
Greene, New York and went on to purchase then The
Whitney Point Reporter, then The Oxford Review-Times and in 1961 the
Tri-Town News of Sidney,
beginning a family business publishing weekly newspapers. Amy edited the
American, and she wrote a regular column. She reports, “anything from
obituary photos to global warming to how to give a cat medicine, and after
all this time my few thousand readers probably know more about me than my
family.” During
her life in Greene she was chairman of the Bicentennial celebration, active
as a member of the Greene Historical Society in putting Genesee Street on
the historical register, and chaired for some time, what later became Greene
Community Services. She belonged to the Art Group of Greene, Book Club, and
was a member of Zion Episcopal Church, where she served briefly on the
vestry. She was the author of two Doubleday Crime Club novels, and, with her
husband, of two non-fiction books: Venezuela Through Its History and
Snow
White, the Wolf and the Unicorn. Symbols in Art, of which she was sole
author, was published on the web in 1998, and 2009 her last scholarly work,
The Origin of Culture, was published by Academia Press.
Source: Duff Spofford,
‘Stop the presses! Looking back on 100 years of Sheaf alumni in the media
(Part 3: 1940-1946)’ Sheaf, University of Saskatchewan,
September 18 2012; Amy Louise Marsland (1924-2013) Obituary. (accessed July 2013) |
Marie-Louise-Joséphine-Ester-Eliza Marmette |
Born March 29, 1870 Québec. Died May 2, 1928 Montréal, Québec. A
granddaughter of known historian François Xavier Garneau there was no doubt
of her literary birthright. As a child she was educated by religious sisters
and is thought to have studied literature in Paris, France. July6, 1892 she
married Donat Brodeur (d.1920) in Ottawa, Ontario. The couple settled in
Montreal where they had a family of three sons and five daughters. She wrote
articles, newspaper columns, poetry, short stories, and novellas but it was
not until after her death that her daughter, Marguerite, collected several
pieces of her work and published a book, Figures et paysages
(Montreal, 1931)
Source:
D C B Vol. XV 2011. (2022) |
Fredelle Bruser
Maynard |
née Bruser.
Born 1922, Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. Died October 3, 1989, Toronto, Ontario.
When she was nine years old her family moved into Winnipeg. After high school
she became an award winning university student. She earned her B.A. at the
University of Manitoba and then went on to the University of Toronto for her
masters’ degree. She then went to Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. where she
earned her PhD at Radcliff (Harvard University). She married Max Maynard in
1948 and moved to Vermont were her husband was a professor at the University
of Vermont. The couple had two daughters. While she originally did not work
at the university she began a successful career in journalism writing books
and articles on child care. In the 1960’s and 1979’s she became a
ghostwriter for Good Housekeeping Magazine writing columns including the Dr.
Joyce Brother’s advice column. By 1952 she was hired as a lecturer at the
University of New Hampshire in Continuing Education. She also taught a high
school where she enjoyed nurturing young minds. In 1961-62 she lectured at
the University. In 1972 she wrote an autobiographical volume called
Raisins and Almonds. This was followed by the book, The Tree of Life.
It was at this time her marriage folded. Shortly after she met Toronto
Businessman Sydney Bacon who would become her best friend and partner.
Relocating to Toronto a Fredelle continued her success as a journalist,
writing, lecturing and working on radio and television. In 1989 after being
diagnosed with cancer, she died shortly after she and Sydney were married.
An historic plaque has been erected by her house in Cabbagetown, an inner
city neighborhood of Toronto.
Sources: Cabbagetown People : The social History of a Canadian Inner City
Neighborhood. Online (accessed March 2014); Fredelle Bruser Maynard,
Library, University of Manitoba, (accessed March 2014) |
J.J. McColl |
SEE
- Joan "Joane" Elizabeth
Humphry |
Christina McCall |
Born January 27, 1935, Toronto, Ontario. Died April 27, 2005,
Toronto, Ontario.
Christina stared work as a secretary to Maclean's magazine but continued her
education. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in English form the University of
Toronto (U of T) she continued at Maclean's, as a writer. As a pioneer in journalism
she would be monumental is dispelling the idea that women could write only
'fluff''. She moved to Ottawa for a while and took an interest in politics
that would become a lifetime pursuit. While in Ottawa she covered political
writings for both Chatelaine and Saturday Night magazines. Back in Toronto
with her family of three daughters, Christina honed her writing skills and began
more in depth projects of writing publications such as the history of the
Liberal Party of Canada and a two volume biography of Prime Minister Pierre
Elliot Trudeau. |
Pearl McCarthy |
Born 1895, Toronto, Ontario. Died March 25,
1964. She studied at the University of Toronto to earn her Bachelor of arts
in 1917 and at Oxford
University in London, England, where she earned a Bachelor in Literature in
1927. She returned to Canada and was
a reporter for the Montreal Gazette and by 1937 she had married Colin Sabiston and had been appointed as Art Critic for the Toronto Globe and Mail
newspaper. She wrote Leo Smith: a biographical Sketch (1937) and
collaborated
in an number of other books. |
Hughena Dickson Elliott McCorquodale |
née Elliott.
Born September 6, 1881 Lilacdale, Ontario. Died December 21, 1961 Trail,
British Columbia. Hughena married lawyer, Alexander McCorquodale (d 1949) on
June 10, 1908 and the couple settled in High River, Alberta. She began
writing in the 1920’s. She wrote freelance features and acted as
correspondent for the Winnipeg Free Press, the Calgary Herald and the
Lethbridge Herald as well as such magazines as Survey Graphic Magazine and
Chatelaine. She became a full time journalist and editor of the High River
Times in the fall of 1927 after raising her three sons. Member of the
Canadian Women’s Press Club from 1932-1945. In 1944 the Stoney Indians
expressed their appreciation of her writing in support of their rights to
their land when they gave her the honorary title of ‘Eagle Woman’ with gifts
of an eagle feather and a sweet grass necklace. When Hughena retired from
the paper in 1956 she was honoured with the town declaring June 7 as Mrs.
McCorquodale Day. She moved to Trail, British Columbia to be near her
youngest son and his family. In 1960 her play Inside Out was aired by the
C B C. |
Kit McDermott |
Born May 5,
1922, Newtonville, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Died July 15, 2010, Brantford,
Ontario. Kit's parents were Dutch and in 1931 the family returned to Holland.
As a teen she worked as a spy for the Dutch Resistance, gathering
information from German soldiers and being a courier with messages carried
in the sole of her boots. After World War ll she served as an Allied Forces
Interpreter with the Canadian occupation army in Germany. After she married
she moved to Lethbridge Alberta to be with her husband’s family but later
relocated to Hamilton/Stoney Creek area in Ontario with her three children.
In the late 1950’s she was co-owner and assistant editor of weekly newspaper
The Stoney Creek News, with Jean Craig and another woman. They were
pioneers as producers and distributors of a weekly paper and their story was
written up in Time Magazine. In1960-1 she worked as an advertising
copy writer the Right House Dept stores, Hamilton, Ontario. In 1961-62 she
worked as editor The Stoney Creek News for Brabant Publishers, who
had purchased the weekly newspaper. From1962-88 she was Women’s editor and
broadcaster CKPC radio in Brantford where the hour long daily Kit McDermott
Show was aired. Trilingual she also provided French lessons on air. In 1976
she served as National President of the Media Club of Canada. (Formerly
Canadian Women’s Press Club).In 1988 Kit changed media and became a
columnist and freelance writer for the Brantford Expositor, Brantford,
Ontario. She believed in serving her community and was a volunteer with Big
Brothers Association Brantford/Brant County, and a Trustee with the Art
Gallery of Brant. In 1986 she served as honorary Chairman, Brantford/Brant
County United Way campaign and in 1989 as honorary Chairman, Cancer Society.
She lived in Brantford with her life companion Vern Cavanaugh for 32 years. Sources: Kit McDermott, Who’s Who in the Media Club of Canada, 1991 ;
Richard Beales, ‘Media Pioneer Enjoyed her Many Roles’, Brantford
Expositor, July 16, 2010. Online (accessed July 2015) |
Marguerite McDonald |
Born December
18, 1941, Morris, Manitoba. Died August 25, 2015, Ottawa, Ontario. 1960 she
worked as a student intern for the Winnipeg Free Press and never forgot
the enjoyment of journalism. By 1962 she had earned her Bachelor of Arts at St Paul’s
College at the University of Manitoba. In August of that year she entered
the Society of Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and became Sister Audrey
Catherine and taught high school. She took on part-time work for a local
radio stations as a commentator on religion. After 12 years she felt she
could no longer retain her commitment to her religious order and left
joining Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (C B C) radio. On October 22, 1977 she became the
firs woman to host of the program
called The House. By 1980 she the social affairs reporter for C B C
TV’s The National. In 1986, she became producer of C B C Radio's
religious and spiritual show Open House, and became the program's
host in 1990. She remained with the program until it was replaced in 1994.
Marguerite was the first female national reporter at C B C TV’s
parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. She not only broke the barriers but she also
held her own! She penned a murder mystery short story, Death at Network News
which was published in a local anthology of Ottawa writers. After her retirement in 1996, she returned to university and
earned her Master Degree in counseling. She worked with the Employee
Assistance Program for a government Department. Marguerite married Harry
Elton (1930-2004) and there was a second marriage to Bill Young. While she did
not have any children of her own her marriages made her step mother to six children.
Source:
Fred Langan, ‘CBC Journalist Marguerite McDonald Broke Gender Barriers.’ the
Globe and Mail September 6, 2015; Marguerite McDonald 1st to
host CBC Radio’s The House dead at 73. CBC News, August 24, 2015.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario |
Margaret Moran
McDougal / MacDougall 3924
Norah Pembroke |
née Dixon. Born December 26, 1828, Belfast, Ireland. Died October 22,
1899, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. While in her twenties, Margaret immigrated
with her family to Canada. In 1852 she married Alexander Dougald McDougal
and the couple had six children. The family lived in Pembroke and Clarence,
Ontario. In 1880 she published a book of poetry called Verses and Rhymes
by the Way. She also wrote for various newspapers. She returned to
Northern Ireland where she was a correspondent for the Montreal Witness
and the American New York Witness. In 1882 she published The
Letters of 'Norah' on her Tour Through Ireland. The Norah referred to
her pen name Norah Pembroke. In 1883 she published a novel, Days of a Life
which was set in Ireland. After the death of her husband in 1887 she became
an active member of the American Baptist Home Mission Society in Michigan,
U.S.A. In 1983 she relocated to Montesano, Washington, U.S.A.
(2022) |
Margaret Helen McDougall
4258 |
née Winter. Born February 4, 1898, Ottawa,
Ontario. Died April 12, 1997, Red Lake, Ontario. Margaret graduated from
Trinity College, University of Toronto (U of T), in 1919. As a linguist she could
translate Latin, French, German, and Spanish. After graduation she completed
a business course and worked at the Ottawa Carnegie Public Library. She married Lt. Col. Kenneth Hamilton McDougall (1892-1972) in 1925
and the couple had three children. In 1932 the couple settled in Red Lake
and for 65 years she produced a column for the District News. She was a
founding member of the Anglican Women's Association and worked with various
town groups including being a founding member of the Pioneer Club and
Museum. She also served as the regions first librarian. In 1984 she was
presented with an Ontario Bicentennial Medal and in 1990 she earned an
Ontario Senior Achievement Award. The local public Library is named in her
honour. (2023) |
Dorothy Stevens McIlwraith
4319 |
Born October 14, 1891, Hamilton, Ontario. Died
August 23, 1976, Orangeville, Ontario. Dorothy graduated from McGill
University, Montreal in 1914. After graduation she worked as a reader and
editor for Doubleday, Page, & Company. In 1940 she became editor of Weird
Tales magazine and remained as editor until the magazine ceased
publishing in 1954. The publication was among the most influential pulp
fiction horror publications in the 20th century. (2023)
|
Jean Newton McIlwraith |
SEE - Authors |
Doreen
McKenzie - Sanders |
SEE - Businesswomen |
Sara Anne McLagan |
née Claeys. Born December 30, 1924, St Vita, (Winnipeg) Manitoba. Died March
27, 2013, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A. There were no facilities for women
at a mandatory camp for engineering students at the University of Manitoba
so Yvonne studied chemistry and Math and was 1st in her class.
She went on to post graduated studies and earned her Masters from the
University of Southern California. She began her engineering career at
Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, California, U.S.A. where she was one of
the only women working and the 1st American plans and projects
for satellites. In 1951 she married William Franklin Brill. The couple had
three children. Her career carried her across the country where in 1981
through 1983 she worked at the National Aero Space Administration (NASA).
She invented a propulsion system to help keep communication satellites in
their orbits which is still in use today in 2015. It was in the 1980’s that
Harper’s Bazaar magazine and DeBier Corporation presented her a
Diamond Superwoman Award for combining family life and successful career. In
2001 she was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal which was
followed in 2002 with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Wyld Award. She also earned the American Association of Engineering
Societies John Fritz Medal which is the highest award in the engineering
profession. In 2010 she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of
Fame and in 2011 President Obama presented her the National Medal of
technology and Innovation. Superwoman indeed!
Source: Douglas Martin, Yvonne Brill,
a pioneering Rocket Scientists Dies at 88, in the New York Times
March 30, 3013: Memorable Manitobans Online. (accessed June 2015)
|
Florence McPhedran
3672
World War 1 Correspondent |
née Davidson. Born August 4, 1879, Alma, Ontario. Died March 6, 1934,
Toronto, Ontario. On September 30,1908 Florence married Dr. John Harris
McPhedran (1882-1963) and the couple had two daughters. While Harris
enlisted and served in the First World War he suffered from Malaria and was
sent back to Canada. In December 1916 the family relocated to England where
the father continued in the military. Florence worked in England as a
correspondent for the Toronto Star. In December 1917 she was one of
four Canadian women journalists, Elizabeth 'Elsie' Montizambert (1875-1964),
Beatrice Nasmyth (1885-1966), and Mary MacLeod Moore (1871-1960), who
accompanied Alberta Member of the Legislative (M L A), Roberta McAdams
(1880-1959), visiting the military front lines in France. Once the War was
over the family returned home to live in Canada. Some of her papers are
retained with the McPhedran-Duncan-Green Family collections at the Archives,
University of Toronto.
Source: E C W W online
(accessed 2022) |
Margaret Stovel McWilliams |
See - Social Activists |
Mistigri |
SEE - Henriette Tassé
|
Alanna Mitchell |
In 1982 she
completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto and went on to earn a Bachelor
in Applied Arts in Journalism at Ryerson University, Toronto in 1987. She
began her career at the Financial Post winning awards for her writings about
the Collapse of the Campeau empire. She went on to work at General Motors
winning 4 major national and international awards.
Being a journalist she writes freelance magazine and newspaper articles and
occasionally make radio documentaries for CBC. She has done work for the
New York
Times
science section, CBC’s Quirks & Quarks,
National
Geographic,
The
Guardian,
G Q India,
The United Church Observer and
Canadian
Geographic Magazine.
In 2004 she
decided to try her had at writing books. In 2008 she won the Atkinson
Fellowship and in 2010 she won the Ghantham Prize. She turned her book Sea
Sick: the global Ocean in Crisis into a one woman play in 2014 and has
toured throughout North America performing. She married James Paterson and
the couple has two children. |
Elizabeth 'Elsie' Montizambert
3671
World War 1 Correspondent |
Born February 1875, Quebec City, Quebec. Died August 1964,
Barnwood, England. After her parents split up her mother brought up her
three daughters as a single parent. Elsie attended the elite Bishop Strachan
School in Toronto and the family often visited England and Europe. By 1900
the mother and daughters settled in London, England. By 1911 Elsie was
living in Paris, France, working as a foreign correspondent for the Montreal
Gazette newspaper writing the column 'Causerie de Paris'.
During the First World War 1914-1918 she was one of four Canadian
journalists, Beatrice Nasmyth (1885-1977), Mary MacLeod Moore (1871-1960),
and Florence McPhedran (1879-1934) who coved military lines in France. After
the was she was back in London working once again for the Montreal
Gazette. During this time she also contributed to the Mail and Empire,
the Winnipeg Free Press, the Montreal Star and the
Vancouver Province newspapers. In the 1920's and 1930's she published
travel books about London. Her last contribution to the Gazette was
published in December 1944. Source: E C W W
(accessed 2022) |
Margaret Teresa Lally 'Ma' Murray
|
Born August 3, 1888, Kansas, U.S.A. Died September 25, 1982, Fort St John, British
Columbia. Born in Kansa she had the wanderlust and relocated to Western
Canada in search of handsome cowboys. February 5, 1913 she married newspaper
editor and future Member of Legislative Assembly George Matheson Murray ( -1961). In 1920 she started a
magazine called Country Life in BC that lasted until 1927. In 1933
George is elected Liberal MLA for Lillooet British Columbia. Margaret, who
was dubbed ‘Ma Murray’ by an Ontario journalist, began the Howe Sound
News in Squamish. Her son Daniel began the Cariboo News in
Williams Lake. In 1937 Ma and George went to the orient and witnessed an air
raid on Shanghai. Bach home Ma wanted nothing to do with Lillooet being a
reception area for interned Japanese Canadians and the family relocated to
Fort St. John, a rough and ready settlement with a camp of 5000 U.S.
soldiers. Here she began the Alaska Highway News on March 17, 1944.
As editor Ma took the town and the province to task on bringing progress to
the area. She traveled rough unfinished roads or flew to locations that
provided stories for the newspaper. In her own words “We raised a lot of
hell and had a lot of fun.” She was well known for her “salty” language. In
1971 she was presented with the Order of Canada. In 1988 the Murray home in
Anmore, British Columbia, was donated to the town along with some of the
family presses.
Sources: “Ma Murray:
Fighting Editor of the Peace” by Stephen Franklin, Weekend Magazine
Vol. 8 No. 23, 1958 |
Musette |
SEE - Social Activists - Marie Arzélie
Éva Circé-Côté |
Emilie Musgrave - Boswell |
Born
November 14, 1886, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died May 18, 1955,Winnipeg,
Manitoba. In 1915 she started reporting for the women’s page of the
Winnipeg Tribune, remaining there until 1945 when she became head
librarian for the newspaper. She retired in 1948. She was a President of the
Winnipeg Women’s Press Club.
Sources: Memorable
Manitobans. Profile by Gordon Goldsborough. Online (accessed December
2011) |
Beatrice
Sifton
Nasmyth -Furniss
World War 1 Correspondent |
Born August 12, 1885, Stratford, Ontario. Died October 24,
1977, Burnaby, British Columbia. When Beatrice was 16 the family relocated
to Woodstock, Ontario and Beatrice attended Alma College, St. Thomas,
Ontario. She began university studies at the University of Toronto but left
her studies in 1907 to work as a journalist. She began her career in
Woodstock but by 1910 she had followed her brother to Vancouver, British
Columbia. Here she worked for the Vancouver World and Saturday Sunset
magazine. She then became was assistant woman's editor of the Vancouver
newspaper The Province. She was a charter member of the local
Canadian Women's Press Club (CWPC) and served as president in 1913. With the
advent of World War 1 in 1914 she went overseas as war correspondent for
The Province and was one of only a few women journalists permitted to
tour the front lines in France. To supplement her pay she worked for
Canadian Pay and Records. She then worked in the London Office of the
Alberta Agent General. While in London in 1917 she managed the campaign of
the first woman elected to the Alberta legislature, Roberta MacAdams
(1880-1959). In 1918 she married Guy Mackenzie Furniss (1888-1963),
and officer in the English Army. In 1919 she was witness to the signing of
the Treaty of Versailles as Arthur Sifton's publicity secretary. In 1920 she
and her husband settled in Montreal to raise their two children. In 1952 the
couple retired to Vancouver. Her story was part of four plays: Her Voice,
Her Century: Four Plays About Daring Women by David Cheoreos, Karen
Simonson, and Debbie Marshall published in 2012.
Source: E C W W |
Nell Netherby |
SEE - Social Activists - Emily Spencer Kirby |
Georgina Alexandrina Newhall |
née Fraser. Born September 2, 1859, Galt Canada West (now Ontario). Died
November 11, 1932, Calgary Alberta. She worked as a journalist in Toronto
where she became the 1st editor of the woman’s Pages of the
Toronto News. While in Toronto she developed an interest in problems facing
working women and she introduced working women to the use of shorthand
writing. She was the 1st woman teacher of Shorthand in Canada. In
the 1880’s she served as assistant secretary to General Manager of the
Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1884 she married Eugene Pierre Newhall. She
also wrote poetry and some of her poems appeared in Selections from Scottish
Canadian Poets. (Toronto, Imrie Graham, 1900).
Source: Guide to the Literary Heritage of Waterloo and Wellington
Counties.
1985. |
Marie Nightengale |
SEE - Authors |
Marie-Antoinette Papen
3787 |
née de Margerie. Born June 9 1907, Sainte-Anne-des-Chenes, Manitoba. Died
April 8, 1989, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Marie-Antoinette began teaching in
Hoey, Saskatchewan in 1928. As was the custom of the era, she quit teaching when she
married Charles Papen in 1934. The couple had three children. They moved to
Belgium in 1937 where they were stranded by World War ll (1939-1946)
returning to Saskatchewan in 1947. Marie-Antoinette returned to teaching
near Prud'Homme and then in Saskatoon in 1950. She became involved with
raising funds to help the French language radio stations in the province. In
November 1952 C F N S started up and she hosted a daily program for
women called Au fil de l'heure. In 1961, after becoming a widow, she was a
director of the radio station and continued hosting her radio program until
her retirement in 1972. Source: Encyclopedia of
Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022) |
Erna Paris |
née Newman. Born May 6, 1938 Toronto, Ontario. Died February 3, 2022,
Toronto, Ontario. Erna earned her Bachelor of Arts
degree from the University of Toronto (U of T) in 1960. She attended the Sorbonne in
Paris, France, to earn her Master's Degree. By the 1970's she was working as
a journalist and radio broadcaster. Ema is also know for her books. In 1970
she won the Medial Club of Canada (formerly the Canadian Women's Press Club) Award for feature writing. In 1973 and
again in 1974 the Media Club of Canada recognized her feature writing and
her radio documentary work. In 1981 her book, Long Shadows made the
Now magazine Best Book ranking. April 26, 1981 Erna Married Thomas
More Robinson and the couple had two children. In 1983 she was a Gold
Medal winner from the National Magazine Awards. In 1990 she earned the Best
Canadian Essays for her work, The Boat People which also won in 1991
the Bronze Medal, The White Award the North American City and Regional
Magazine Completion awards. In 1996 the End of Days: Tolerance, Tyranny
and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain earned the Canadian Jewish Book
Award for history. In 2001 she earned the Now magazine Best Books
Award, the Globe and Mail Best Books Award, the Pearson Writers'
Trust Non-Fiction Prize, The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing,
the Dorothy Shoichet Prize for History, The Christian Science Monitor
Best Books Award, and the New Statesman Best Books! In 2002 she
worked to have a resolution presented in the U.S. House of representatives
to create a monument to American slaves on the Washington Mall in D.C.,
U.S.A. In 2005 Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History was credited as
one of the 100 Most Important Canadian Books Ever Written by the Literary
Review of Canada. In 2008 and 09 she served as Vice-Chair of the Writer's
Union of Canada and was Chair in 2009-2010. In 2012 she earned the World
Federalist Movement-Canada World Peace Prize. In 2015 she was appointed to
the Order of Canada as a Member.
(2022) |
Elizabeth Parker |
SEE - Social Activists |
Amanda Parris
Black Broadcaster |
Born London, England. Amanda
earned her Bachelor Degree in Political Science and Women's Studies from
York University, Toronto, Ontario. She continued her education with a
Master's Degree in Sociology of Education from the University of Toronto. In
2005 she created ROOTS at York University that is a student organization
that explores history and pursuing alternative education. She had also
studied theatre at the Lee Strasberg Institute of Film and Theatre in West
Hollywood, California, U.S.A. and Theatre Ontario. She began her
career working with the Remix Project and as co- founder and coordinator
with Lost Lyrics, an arts education program that used theatre, dance,
poetry, film and music to reach at risk youth. She produced exhibits and
concerts with Manifesto Festival, the Art Gallery of Ontario , and T-Dot
Renaissance. Amanda is a CBC art columnist. She hosts three television show
on the CBC including From the Vaults. She also host radio programs
such as Marvin's Room. As a Playwright she written The Other
Side of the Games which is a love letter to the strength of Black Women. The
play was staged in 2017 at the Cahoots Theatre, Toronto.
(2019) |
Pat Muriel Welsh Patterson
Broadcaster, Composer &
Writer |
Born December 4, 1921, Victoria, British
Columbia. Died December 19, 2005, Toronto, Ontario. Pat was a self taught
composer who studied the violin, voice, and piano in Victoria, British
Columbia. In 1946 she relocated to Toronto, Ontario where she became active
working as a writer and programmer for radio. From 1948 through 1964 she
hosed Pat's Music Room. in the early 1950's she also hosted Light
and Lyrical and a children's program called Musical Playroom. By
the mid 1950's she had performed several hundred of her own songs on the C B
C television's children's show Telestory Time. From 1962
through 1969 she hosed and then was co-host to 1971, of the C B C Radio
program Trans-Canada Matinee. She also hosted One to One
at the end of the 1970's. In 1972 she composed the music for the theme
song for Ontario Television's The Polka-a-Dot Door. In 1976 she
prepared the C B C series Festivals of the World and the following
year Thanks for the Use of the Hall. In 1986 she was writing for the
Children's television show Fred Penner's Place. Over the
decades she collaborated on numerous children's productions for C B C Radio
including The Popcorn Man which in 1980 was adapted for
television. She was also the author of documentary films and plays for radio
and she published three children's books. In 1986 she was the recipient of
the John Drainie Award which honours individuals who have made a significant
contribution to broadcasting in Canada. Pat was the mother of four children
and at the time of her death was survived by her loving partner Sheila
Gilbert. Source: Canadian Encyclopedia online (accessed 2024) John
Drainie Award. online (accessed 2024); Obituary The Globe and Mil, December
2005 online (accessed 2024) |
Lise Payette |
SEE - Politicians |
Borgny Pearson |
née Eileraas.
Born July 9, 1920, Saskatchewan. Died November 18, 2014, Ottawa, Ontario.
Borgny
completed a degree in English and Social Science at the University of
Saskatchewan in 1944. Her passion for writing led her to volunteer at the
university newspaper, The Sheaf, where she wrote articles and poetry
and became its editor. With so many men off at war in 1941, women were being
hired to fill in jobs and on October 1, 1944 she was hired by the Regina
Leader-Post newspaper to write human interest stories. After an
automobile accident in 1945 Borgny began working for the slower paced weekly
paper, The Shaunavon Standard
in southwestern Saskatchewan. By 1948, Borgny was a reporter for The
Swift Current Sun. She crossed paths with a lady soliciting for
the Unitarian Service Committee (USC) and became so engaged with this
overseas development organization, which helped orphans through setting up
resources in third world countries, that in 1950 she accepted the position
of Promotions Manager with the USC in Ottawa. In 1955, she took up a job
with the advertising department at Murphy Gambles department store. In 1956
she became Editor of the Homes Page at the Ottawa Citizen for three years. She
quickly moved into CBC radio, writing scripts and doing interviews. Another
highlight in her career was working for the federal department of
Citizenship and Immigration, where her duties included writing promotional
material on citizenship for new Canadians, including youth. She also worked
for 10 years at Statistics Canada becoming editor in 1976 for the Canada
Yearbook and just before she retired she spent six months at the
Department of Justice. In retirement she freelanced for her community paper
the Glebe Reporter. She was a long time member of the Media Club of
Ottawa (Formerly Canadian Women’s Press Club) and served as president in
1995.
Borgny married Joe Pearson, who was Presse Attaché for the Russian Embassy,
and together they raised their son and daughter.
Sources:
Jessica Goodfellow, Borgny P | |